Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu is executive director of CAD Trust. Image: Climate Action Data Trust.
The Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) has appointed Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu as executive director, five months after the information aggregation platform was launched by the World Bank, Singapore government and industry body International Emissions Trading Association.
The platform uses blockchain technology to combine data on carbon projects stored in different registries and present the information in a way that can be easily compared, to improve market transparency. The information will be presented at a climate finance event in Bilbao, Spain on 24th May 2023, said CAD Trust. Carbon registries such as Verra, Gold Standard, American Carbon Registry and the Global Carbon Council are expected to be on board.
Babu has nearly three decades of experience in carbon markets and climate-related issues. He was previously an executive director at accounting firm Ernst & Young, where he was involved in the Suprabha project, a World Bank-funded US$13 million rooftop solar panel programme in India.
Babu is now based in Singapore, where CAD Trust is headquartered. He will report to a council that includes executives from major carbon registries and government officials from Bhutan, Chile, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
“CAD Trust has an important mission to drive effective climate action through data and technology,” Babu said, adding that carbon markets need to demonstrate reliability, integrity, innovation and transparency.
The voluntary carbon market, where firms buy carbon credits generated from projects that better protected forests or provided clean fuels to communities to offset emissions, has grown to about US$2 billion in 2021. The market is currently in a slump due to economic headwinds and recent allegations of over-crediting.
