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IHS Markit announced plans 9 March to launch a meta-registry to
help track, manage, and account for trades of new and existing
credits generated from mitigating climate change impacts across
independent carbon markets and registry systems around the
world.
Once launched, IHS Markit said, the registry would serve as a
"global online ledger" that will "allow seamless connections among
independent carbon markets and registries around the world,
reducing the risk that credits are counted or claimed twice
different markets or programs."
The IHS Markit Meta-Registry will leverage distributed ledger
technology to enable companies, governments, traders, and brokers
to access information on projects and credits across jurisdictions,
programs and standards, it said.
The meta-registry could be launched in the coming weeks, with
initial member programs including Global Carbon Council, Gold
Standard, UK Woodland Carbon Code, UK Peatland Code, and Verra.
Additional participants will be added in the future.
Carbon markets are a vital tool that allow companies and
countries to meet their net-zero emissions commitments through
market schemes. The key will lie in implementation, though, with
multiple registries and methodologies, buying and selling in many
different venues, according to Evolution Markets, a brokerage firm
that has been engaged in global carbon markets in New York and
London for more than two decades.
"Our carbon market clients are seeking more efficiencies in how
carbon offsets are created, traded and retired. This initiative has
the potential to address some of those needs," Evan Ard, Evolution
executive managing director, said March 9.
That's where the IHS Markit registry comes in, according to
Kathy Benini, IHS Markit's head of environmental solutions. "This
meta-registry that underpins the global carbon markets will provide
clarity and accountability for participants, increase liquidity,
transparency, and strengthen the all-important trust in these
markets," Benini said in a March 9 statement.
As carbon offset markets become more active and new products are
developed by regulated and unregulated markets, the need for
coordination among registries is all the more important. And if
done right, the registry can "increase liquidity in carbon markets
and maybe open the market to more participants, especially as more
and more companies are taking on carbon reduction targets," Ard
said.
To ensure that the meta-registry meets its goals, IHS Markit
also set up a Meta-Registry Advisory Board comprising
representatives from the public and private sectors, plus
non-governmental organizations. These include Bank of America,
Chevron, Environmental Defense Fund, Gold Standard, Global Carbon
Council, Goldman Sachs, Temasek and the International Emissions
Trading Association.
The World Bank will remain an observer on the advisory board,
and IHS Markit said its registry would act as a complement to the
World Bank's Climate Warehouse initiative to create a public
infrastructure for tracking and reporting of carbon assets.
"We have seen growing interest in solutions to enable carbon
credit markets to scale, as evidenced by the Task Force for Scaling
Voluntary Carbon Markets and the World Bank's Climate Warehouse
initiative," said Dirk Forrister, president and CEO for the
International Emissions Trading Association and Meta-Registry
Advisory Board member.
Posted 09 March 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst
