Climate action

Climate action

These are extraordinary times. And we face an extraordinary challenge. Our generational responsibility as well as our convictions impose upon us the need for committed action to stabilize climate.

This role is difficult and critically important. We should stand for generalized climate action.

It is a great privilege to have been chosen as one of the Co-Chairs of the Expert Panel of the scaling of the voluntary carbon market.

I humbly accept this responsibility guided by scientific consensus and bearing in mind the great sense of urgency on ambitious action demanded by climate change while thoughtful about even the potential secondary effects of our actions.

The quest for stabilizing climate means sustainable development. A well-functioning and integral carbon market bears great potential to contribute to decarbonization in line with the Paris Agreement, yet it must be designed to perform on a basis of impact delivery for people and nature.

I’m looking forward to working with the incredibly impressive pool of experts who’ve submitted expressions of interest, starting with my 3 Co-Chairs, Pedro Martins Barata, Lambert Schneider, and Lian Pin Koh.

 As you all know, the key priority of the Expert Panel in the next months is to finalize the Core Carbon Principles, which serve as a threshold standard for high-quality carbon credits. This will be no easy task, but I’m confident with the large amount of expertise available to us, we will be able to deliver on this.

For the next month, Pedro, Lambert, Lian Pin and I will be drawing on the broad expertise of those who submitted expressions of interest, to develop independent and scientifically rigorous working groups for prioritized methodologies.

We are very excited by this new chapter and really look forward to providing market participants with more clarity of what constitutes high-quality credits. We have work to be done, so I should better move from conversation to action!

Your comments will be more than welcome!

To find out more, read the full press release on the new Governing Body of the Voluntary Carbon Market here.