Singapore, global verification programmes to develop carbon-crediting best practices
SINGAPORE’S National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) is collaborating with Gold Standard and Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard to develop a playbook for countries to increase their use of existing carbon-crediting programmes.
NCCS is part of the Strategy Group under the Prime Minister’s Office. Verra is a non-profit organisation in the US, and Gold Standard was established in 2003 by the World Wide Fund for Nature and other international non-governmental organisations as a best practice standard for net-zero transition plans.
On Monday (Dec 11), the three organisations said they aim to complete the playbook by mid-2024 after engaging with and seeking feedback from other countries and independent carbon-crediting programmes.
The playbook is envisioned to define the roles of national registries and crediting programme registries; detail how information should be exchanged; and offer “harmonised approaches” to implement and comply with rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
This will help countries achieve and exceed their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, said the partners.
“Through this partnership, we will support national registries to integrate with existing market structures, to build a system that works for countries, corporates and investors – and most importantly, helps money to get to projects that achieve real impact,” said Margaret Kim, Gold Standard’s chief executive.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Friday, 12.30 pm
ESG Insights
An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues.
Currently, Article 6 allows governments and private-sector participants to cooperate internationally through market-based mechanisms to pursue climate targets.
Under this mechanism, governments can work through existing carbon-crediting programmes to certify their emission reductions and removals.
NCCS, Gold Standard and Verra, however, noted that how governments and carbon-crediting programmes should work together under Article 6 is still being defined.
SEE ALSO
This may in turn lead to divergent approaches which could hinder the implementation of Article 6, they said.
“The ongoing Article 6 debate is in urgent need of practical experience, concrete processes and tangible progress,” noted Judith Simon, president and interim CEO of Verra.
In her view, the collaboration between NCCS, Verra and Gold Standard will help countries use existing standards to implement Article 6 activities to achieve their own domestic climate goals.
The three partners also highlighted that independent carbon-crediting programmes such as Verra’s and Gold Standard are “available, operational, and increasingly used by corporations and other investors to mobilise the flow of carbon finance from the private sector to developing countries”.
Creating effective and consistent processes for such existing standards through the playbook can save countries significant time, money and additional resources in the development of their own programmes, they added.
“Singapore supports the development of frameworks to facilitate international climate change cooperation among countries and stakeholders under Article 6, to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement within reach,” said NCCS director-general of climate change Benedict Chia.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
