An outlook on the voluntary carbon market. Shell and BCG's new report includes insights from over 100 leading market participants around the world.
Shell and BCG’s new report sets out a practical framework for businesses participating in the voluntary carbon market.
This new report looks at the lessons learnt over the last decade in the market and the steps taken to help ensure high-quality carbon credits.
Carbon credits can be an important asset for some on their journey to net zero.
Voluntary carbon credits are for investing in projects that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This is done by either removing CO2 or avoiding an emission that would otherwise have occurred.
It’s not just about choosing one credit over another based simply on a credit’s certification. We develop strong relationships with projects where our customers want to build brand association. We go beyond in our due diligence to provide good quality credits that match up to their promises.
We’ve built a dedicated environmental products team that can help companies use carbon credits as part of their decarbonising journey – a team that brings the scale, flexibility, and long-term partnership that our customers need.
We care a lot about voluntary carbon credits and how they can help. Let's make a difference with carbon credits.
Developed in collaboration with BCG and reflecting the views of more than 100 industry experts.
A new report looking at the voluntary carbon market today, examining the factors that will shape it's development, and setting out the characteristics of the voluntary market of the future.
2021 will be a defining year for the voluntary carbon market. In 2020, the number of companies making net-zero emission pledges tripled to more than 1,500. As we head towards COP26 this year, many will start to set out defined pathways for reaching that goal.
For some businesses, avoiding and reducing emissions will not be enough to reach zero, or an emissions trajectory consistent with the Paris Agreement. Carbon credits can help. 95% of Shell Environmental Products’ customers are already actively reducing their carbon footprint, adopting cleaner technologies and new operating models to reduce overall emissions, but they are looking for carbon credits to help them close the gap.
To meet the increasing demand for credits the market will need to expand, by at least 15 times. But it is vital that growth does not come at the expense of credibility. As more businesses transition towards net zero, we need a more liquid and transparent carbon market, where businesses and their stakeholders can be sure of the efficacy of the credits they buy.
Recognising this, the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets was launched last year by a group of more than 40 business leaders. By creating global principles for verifying carbon credits and transparent trading infrastructure, the Taskforce aims to scale up the market, raise standards and build confidence in the integrity of carbon offsetting.
We are excited to be playing an active role in that. Shell joined the Taskforce last year, because we believe that high-quality carbon credits are an essential complement to absolute emissions reductions, that finance should be channelled into projects that mitigate or remove greenhouse gases right now, while companies develop the tools to avoid or reduce their emissions.
We want companies to be able to set out plans for reducing their carbon footprint, knowing that any carbon credits they include make a real impact. We want a market that ensures more buyers have access to quality projects that deliver additional benefits to the communities around them.
Our team has benefited from over 15 years building relationships with projects and we know the importance of due diligence. We believe in the quality of the credits in our portfolio. We are looking forward to working with the Taskforce to share our experience and learn from others, helping to grow a voluntary carbon market that enables more companies to meet their net-zero ambitions with confidence.
Our portfolio of carbon credits is drawn from a range of projects across the world that use proven methodologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere, or avoid or reduce emissions.
We only work with projects, like the three examples below, that deliver positive impacts on local communities, biodiversity and habitats, as well as clear emissions reductions or removal that meet the criteria of independent carbon credit standards.
Located on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China, the Qinghai Afforestation Project covers an area of over 2.1 million hectares.
Over the recent decades, much of this land has suffered from desertification – the transformation of arable healthy ecosystems into desert, degraded by deforestation, overgrazing of livestock and overuse of water.
By planting trees, the projects help to improve soil quality and preserve water, preventing further damage and enabling local communities to continue farming, as well as providing jobs and extending valuable habitat.
The three projects in Haidong City and Xining City will grow 39,600 hectares of new forest and a further 2.1 million hectares will be managed to promote and conserve biodiversity. This includes protecting the habitat of two critically endangered species, the Alpine Musk Deer and the Saker Falcon, both native to the area.
Through the planting and preserving of forest, these are expected to remove and store over 1.865 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
These projects, developed by Shell along with Qinghai Forestry Bureau, are independently verified under the VCS and CCB standards.
