Calyx Global Newsletter: May 2024 Edition
Improving transparency in carbon projects
A recent study by Carbon Market Watch revealed transparency issues in carbon standards across registries, notably within the rule-setting process and disclosure requirements, that can impact fair assessments of carbon projects by rating agencies and carbon credit buyers. In this blog, we discuss how and why there are certain credits that cannot be rated by our team and offer a few examples on what can be done to maximize access to more comprehensive information, which can lead to greater trust and confidence in the carbon market.
The state of safeguards in carbon crediting standards
As addressed in a previous post, environmental and social safeguards are crucial to sustainably harness the potential of the VCM in addressing climate change. We continue this discussion by comparing the safeguard measures of leading standards such as CCB, GS4GG, SD VISta, and VCS?against their coverage of various safeguard areas such as land rights and resettlements, cultural heritage, benefit-sharing, intersectionality and more. ?
CNaught launches the Calyx Global Highly-Rated Portfolio
A couple of weeks ago, CNaught launched the "Calyx Global Highly-Rated Portfolio" on their platform. CNaught simplifies the process of finding quality carbon credits by building a portfolio consisting of credits that Calyx Global rated highly and assessed for environmental and social risks.?
A new chapter for the voluntary carbon market
Last week, Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) and Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) joined ACR, CAR and Gold Standard as eligible to use the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label. While this announcement did not contain the category labels many hoped for, the ICVCM acknowledged that initial categories are expected in June, and announcements will continue monthly. This blog post reviews the programs that received this status, the changes it took for a credit program to receive the CCP label, and what comes next after these first announcements.
The “recipe for success” for improved cookstove projects
Improved cookstove projects (ICS) are an important part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they can greatly reduce emissions from households & communities around the world. These projects are emerging as one of the fastest-growing project types in the carbon market. Through our experience rating over 100 ICS projects, we published a paper that outlines the main risk factors of ICS projects and recommendations for mitigating such risks.
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State of the Carbon Markets Series
Last month, our team released the first batch of our “State of the Carbon Market” video series, where we interview carbon market experts and discuss how they are reacting to the evolving industry.?Check out the videos that we’ve shared so far:
Episode 1: What is carbon market 2.0? – featuring Rene Velasquez of crbn.trade , Charles Bedford of Carbon Growth Partners , and Thomas Annicq of oneshot.earth
Episode 2: How would you describe the state of the carbon market? – featuring Duncan van Bergen , co-founder of Calyx Global and Rene Velasquez of crbn.trade
Episode 3: Optimism in carbon markets – featuring Thomas Annicq of oneshot.earth , and Deborah Lawrence , Chief Scientist at Calyx Global
Episode 4: Adapting to the changing carbon market – featuring Thomas Annicq of oneshot.earth and Charles Bedford of Carbon Growth Partners
Episode 5: Carbon Market Metaphors – featuring Juerg Fuessler of INFRAS , Deborah Lawrence of Calyx Global and Rene Velasquez of crbn.trade
Upcoming Events
Argus Asia Carbon Conference ?| May 13-15th
Duncan van Bergen will be a guest speaker at this event, joining a panel discussion on Ensuring Market Integrity and Upholding Trust in the Carbon Market. If you’ll be at this event and would like to meet, let us know.
Argus Europe Carbon Conference | May 21-23rd
We will also be attending the Argus Conference in Nice, France. Reach out to schedule a meeting with our team.
Closing thoughts?
According to the dictionary, a false dawn is, figuratively,?“Something engendering premature hope; a promising sign which in fact leads to nothing.” At the start of 2024, the signals of a resurgent interest in carbon markets could well point to a new dawn. Just last week, John Podesta, senior advisor to the US president for clean energy innovation and implementation, was quoted in a Reuters article , saying, “Carbon markets are a critical tool on the path of... keeping warming below 1.5C.” At the same time, the EU is showing signs of carefully reconsidering its famous cold shoulder to carbon credits and many countries, including Singapore, Switzerland, and Sweden, are experimenting with Article 6.2 trades. Alongside this, it looks as if the institutions influencing what’s okay and what’s not in voluntary carbon crediting (ICVMC, VCMI, SBTi) are gradually providing a clearer framework guiding the use of carbon credits in voluntary climate action, while the programs that provide the infrastructure for credit issuance are progressing with meaningful improvements to the methodologies/protocols that create carbon credits.
Whether all this is part of a real or a false dawn will depend to a large extent on decisions the entire carbon market ecosystem makes in the coming months around parameters that impact integrity. A start has been made, and the building blocks for a higher-quality market are being built. But … change is hard, and difficult decisions are still ahead of us (e.g. managing legacy credits, embracing transparency and disclosure, etc.).
At Calyx Global, we think the changes underway could herald a real dawn, resulting in a more impactful carbon market, for the benefit of the planet and people. We want to work with organizations around the world that embrace the change needed to see the sun come up!?
- Duncan van Bergen
Calyx Global Co-founder