CGEP Presents: Project-Based Carbon Credit Markets Webinar

The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA hosted a virtual webinar with experts from Kenya, India, and Brazil to discuss and better understand the landscape of PCCM regulatory frameworks across countries. Panelists included: Gautam Jain, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy Luisa Palacios, Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy Thiago Barral, Undersecretary for Implementation, Secretariat of Carbon Markets, Ministry of Finance, Brazil Ressa Kombi, Senior Climate Change Officer, Kenya’s Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Aparna Sharma, Programme Lead, Carbon Markets Team, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), India Project-based carbon credit markets (PCCMs)—which enable the issuance, use, and trading of credits from projects that avoid, reduce, or remove greenhouse gas emissions—are emerging as a key tool for companies to meet several objectives, including emission-reduction targets, compliance obligations, investor expectations, and disclosure requirements. While PCCMs have been expanding, the pace of annual carbon credit issuance has slowed in the last couple of years due to integrity concerns. To address this, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has proposed rigorous standards for the supply side, and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) has done so for the demand side. But these standards are voluntary and, therefore, nonbinding. Establishing national regulation frameworks could provide enforceable safeguards to improve market trust by ensuring the environmental integrity of credits and help scale up the market.