The standards organisation accused of approving “worthless” credits last year got an endorsement for meeting the ICVCM's quality criteria. The carbon market outlook remains unclear, with Indonesia recently censuring a huge forest project.
Co-led by two senior South Pole staff, the Singapore-based Asia Centre of Carbon Excellence seeks to grow nascent decarbonisation projects in the region, such as early coal phase-out, greener shipping fuels and carbon capture and storage.
Jennifer Morris, who heads up the global conservation outfit, rules out preserving nature through internationally traded biodiversity credits as it does not make scientific sense, but says “like for like” regional certificates could work.
Energy storage and just transition costs would make such novel credits several times more expensive than the typical renewable energy or forest conservation offsets available today.