CTX Newsletter Summer 2023 Issue

Newsletter Summer 2023 Issue #147

100,001 tonne trade caps fabulous July month

Taking advantage of lower prices sees 52 weeks average rise back over 6,000 credits per transaction:

July finished with a flourish, even on weekends clients are buying across multiple credit standards, with trades for UNFCCC UN CDM CERs, CTX CERs Gold Standard , Verra VCS, Universal Carbon Registry and BioCarbon Standard .

Lower prices are expected in a softer market, but that’s seen much less action in OTC trades and more on the CTX platform – especially since the recent introduction of the?‘Buy to Retire’?feature. Of course, the CTX 52 weeks average volume has dropped this year, but with trades ranging from our 100 tonne?minimum up to 150,000+ in July there’s plenty of life out there. In July we increased our floor price for credits which had been set many years ago and hadn’t been tested for 2-3 years, but for some new buyers this ultra-low?prices plus allowing buyers without a registry account access to new credit standards, we are catering to all the market buyers and sellers, who after all set the prices - not CTX.

African Voluntary Carbon Credit Market forum

Global Environmental Markets Pty Ltd and Carbon Trade eXchange (CTX) powered into Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for the inaugural AVCCM event in July and raised the bar with multiple speaking slots by CEO Wayne Sharpe, culminating in signing agreements to establish the Victoria Falls Carbon Registry and Exchange, which seeks to cover multiple nations in the Region.

Details on the commencement of operations and process to migrate existing credits and list them onto CTX will be coming soon. Already there have been a flurry of regional enquiries for new projects keen to establish themselves in their regional African nations and make credits available to CTX clients globally.

CTX Listings Crack New Records?

The Carbon Market has spoken and CTX is leading the pack in terms of listings, diversity of projects, credit standards, locations and prices. While many are crying crocodile tears over a ‘soft’ or ‘declining’ hybrid bundles market, the genuine SPOT product specific model on CTX is showing how projects prefer setting their own prices. After recent media coverage on certain ‘Developers’ buyers are seeing the wisdom of the portfolio approach we have advocated for over a decade, with live spot prices and access to ALL the documents and data available on the Carbon Registry with a ‘click’ of a button.

Although this ‘data’ is harvested from the online information available continuously for every CTX member, we wish to make this report available to CTX members on a monthly basis. If you would like to receive these reports,?please subscribe to the mailing list by emailing; [email protected]

BioCarbon Standard : Carbon Trade eXchange (CTX) Webinar in September

Over 100 people attended the last one and now we hope to do another one:?BioCarbon Registry is?one of the worlds leading Credit Standards and our Registry partners have grown exponentially since last year.?With offices now in Turkey, Czech Republic, Uganda, and Canada, they are truly global and new projects from these regions will be listed soon on CTX for sale. The Forestry / AFOLU protocols are world class, and in addition to Biodiversity they now cover renewables, transportation, and others. Projects and buyers should know more, and this webinar will deliver what you want and need to know. Register today by emailing?[email protected].

What’s the Truth - to some media does it matter??

The Recent media attacks on? Verra VCS and in particular the Forestry project in Zimbabwe, seem to have been aimed at South Pole - certainly big ‘target’ given their obvious success over many years, and they clearly make loads of money in the process.?What seems to have been largely ignored is the FACT that there are over?5 million credits in the VCS ‘Buffer Account’?for that project alone, which accounts for just under 20% of all credits issued on its behalf.

At the recent AVCCM Forum, certain American “experts” claimed there was no transparency or proper reports on various project claims, when there are in fact circa 100 documents and thousands of pages of 3rd?party reports in the Verra VCS Registry. Something these same experts denied even after being shown by me on stage. So, the vested interest and self servicing agendas of some parties is now clear.?

Verra VCS Rules cover this Buffer as follows:?“AFOLU Non-Permanence Risk and Pooled Buffer Account Non-permanence risk in Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) projects is addressed through the use of a project risk analysis, using the AFOLU Non-Permanence Risk Tool, which determines a number of credits to be deposited in the AFOLU pooled buffer account. The pooled buffer account holds non-tradable buffer credits to cover the non-permanence risk associated with AFOLU projects. It is a single account that holds the buffer credits for all projects. Buffer credits are cancelled to cover carbon known, or believed, to be lost. As such, the VCUs already issued to projects that subsequently fail are not cancelled and do not have to be “paid back”. All VCUs issued to AFOLU projects (as with all projects) are permanent. The VCS approach provides environmental integrity because the AFOLU pooled buffer account will always maintain an adequate surplus to cover unanticipated losses from individual project failures and the net GHG benefits across the entire pool of AFOLU projects will be greater than the total number of VCUs issued.”

The?Kariba project?did not fail, and?if it ‘underperformed’?as claimed by certain media, the Buffer pool covers it completely many times over. While we and others may feel uncomfortable with the vast profits made in Europe with little flowing back on the ground to Zimbabwe, this is the legitimate business model many big ‘Developer /Brokers’ have had for many years. I won’t defend South Pole, but in the interests of true transparency here is their?rebuttal?–?in case like most mainstream media you missed it. While Verra VCS leapt to their defence immediately, we did on the ground discussions in Zimbabwe in July, about how much money REALLY went to the people on the ground there. Not much. Despite this, the project continues with just local support for now.

And you can expect it to be revitalised under a new name, split into smaller projects and under more local control via the New Registry there.?Let’s hope you’ll make it part of your portfolio via CTX when they’re listed, when 95% of the sale proceeds go to Zimbabwe.?We have received assurance that the government will not take 50%, but ultimately it is up to them to decide. Frankly, 50% of what they were being sold for is still up to 5 times what they have received in the past.?

Projects of?the Month

1.?Gold Standard

Biomass?(3 SDG’s) India (Asia) – USD $4.25

Biomass Steam Generation mitigates CO2?emissions by using rice husk available in the region instead of coal used in a milk processing plant. The project accounts for a reduction of?27,106 tCO2e per year?for a period of 10 years. The project provides economic growth to the region by employing the local population in the construction, operation and maintenance of the infrastructure and equipment as well as the collection and transportation of biomass.

2.?UNFCCC?CDM CERs

Run-Of River Hydro - (3 SDG’s)

Colombia (South America) – USD $3.80

The Guanaquitas project produces clean power using a flow of water in the river run through a small hydroelectric plant. The project generates electricity for the Colombian power grid with low emissions technology accounting for a reduction of?20,149 tCO2e per year. The project increases employment opportunities in the area along with local and regional economic development. It also develops technological capacity since all technology, manpower and technical maintenance is provided domestically. Additional infrastructure like road access was necessary, providing access to zones that were previously isolated.

3.?Verra?VCS

Forestry plantations on degraded grasslands - (4 SDG’s)

Uruguay (South America) - ￡10.50 GBP

This project is to convert degraded grassland with a long history of cattle grazing into forest plantations which will aid in restoring the land, by improving the soil quality through water retention and delivery of micronutrients to the soil, and by preventing soil erosion. This planted forest accounts for the capture of approximately?56,019 tCO2e per year. It also seeks to enhance biodiversity in the area by constantly assessing, monitoring, managing and restoration of rare species included in the international list for conservation (IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature). It contributes to the economic development in the region by creating jobs during the agrarian phase and by providing support for rural schools with the provision of materials and human resources.

Buy credits now

CTX Members – if you have any questions, please email?[email protected].?

Thank you all for your contributions to help save?the planet for our future generations.