SBTi’s latest on the role of carbon credits

Here’s a note from Zsolt Lengyel about this SBTi paper:

A bit of positive, almost celebratory, mode today re. Science Based Targets initiative: “Instead of succumbing to pressure to introduce unnuanced flexibility to its standards through carbon credits, the discussion paper published by SBTi today * 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠”. I fully agree with this assessment put forward by the New Climate Institute upon reviewing the document published today.

One of the other SBTi documents of today – ‘Synthesis report of evidence on the effectiveness of Environmental Attribute Certificates in corporate climate targets – Part 1: Carbon credits ‘ *** created 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐁𝐓𝐢 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐚 ‘𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 (𝐮𝐧)𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝟑 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐬’.

One thing remain certain: as the self-inflicted climate & nature crises unfold globally, public policy and corporate behavior must change fundamentally. Climate neutrality & climate action cannot be outsourced and we will not succeed with voluntary action no matter how ambitious/correct it is. Improvements – or the lack of deterioration – of voluntary initiatives are necessary, but not sufficient to align with climate goals.

I am hopeful that those in the VCM ( voluntary carbon market ) domain will realise that by losing a battle (for the increased inclusion of offsets in corporate decarbonisation of Scope 3) we are getting closer to winning the war: if corporations are forced to reduce/remove emissions within their value-chains, then we must be closer to a World where climate finance will flow systematically, enforced and overseen by regulators, to those multiple-benefit actions – from clean-cooking to nature restoration/protection – that are outside of value-chains.

I am hopeful that policy-makers, governments and sovereign states also finally wake up: if they want to avoid the controversies and pains SBTi has gone trough, they better create regulatory frameworks and public policy that actually delivers….