This week, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest climate report distilling peer-reviewed findings on the megatrends, impacts, and responses to climate change. Building on a series of previous reports authored by hundreds of the world’s top scientists, the evidence is clear and tells us what we already know - while momentum is growing at the policy, corporate and community levels, we’re not doing enough to mitigate global warming. And urgent action is required to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To answer this call, we need to deploy every tool in our toolbox. This means immediate, drastic reductions in carbon emissions across all industries. It also means unlocking one of our most immediate and scalable solutions: the voluntary carbon market.
Urgent action is needed to stay on track
First, let’s review what the IPCC report says. It highlights that significant strides have been made in mobilizing climate finance, but progress is far too slow. Emissions have never been higher. Global warming is already at 1.1 oC and without a serious course correction, is likely to reach 1.5 oC as soon as the early 2030s and exceed 2 oC before the end of the century.
Why is this so critical? Because every fraction of a degree of warming causes big impacts. These aren’t theoretical or abstract; they impact peoples’ lives in real and tangible ways. The more severe these impacts become, the harder it will be to adapt the world to climate change, particularly in regions that are most vulnerable to climatic extremes. We need to be doing everything we can to minimize these impacts and protect as many people and natural systems as possible.
Opening up the voluntary carbon market
So what can we do to help get us back on track? There’s a pretty simple answer: action!
We know that markets are one of the best mechanisms for mobilizing much needed climate finance, particularly in the developing world. The value of the global voluntary carbon market topped $1 billion for the first time in 2021 and, by 2030, could be worth between $5 billion and $30 billion at the low end and more than $50 billion at the high end. However, to unlock the impact this market-based solution can have, we need to both learn from and move past recent criticisms. We need to support and accelerate the trend toward higher integrity credits. And we need to generate more supply.
Project developers and credit sellers need to double down on increasing the supply of high-integrity credits available on the market. The IPCC report makes it clear that carbon removal is essential to limit warming to 1.5 oC. The supply side of the voluntary market must work together to get promising carbon removal technologies from pilots to full scale projects that can meet the growing demand. At the same time, halting deforestation and preserving mature, intact ecosystems is an urgent priority to avoid worsening the climate threat. We need to increase the resilience of communities and natural landscapes to the effects of climate change. Investing in improving the quality of projects that credit ecosystem protection, through new technologies for monitoring and better accounting frameworks, is critical.
With a clear path to better quality corporate buyers can put their dollars to work. By purchasing high-quality carbon credits they can create impact now instead of continuing to kick the can down the road. Purchasing credits isn’t enough - companies should also aggressively pursue emissions reductions. However it’s a reflection of the action needed today to keep our climate targets in reach.
We need to work across coalitions of businesses, governments, and NGOs to ensure the market is functioning fairly and equitably for everyone. Delivering high integrity carbon credits requires the full participation of and engagement with a range of stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples and local communities.
The Rubicon Carbon approach
At Rubicon Carbon, we’re focused on channeling climate finance to projects and solutions that will achieve the greatest impact for climate and society. This means purchasing and funding high-quality, high-integrity carbon credits that address the dual goals of preserving existing ecosystems and scaling the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. The latest IPCC report underscores that this work is more critical than ever. We look forward to working with market stakeholders to accelerate action and help get us moving in the right direction.
