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BeZero Carbon has rated the carbon removal and avoidance benefits of a forest management scheme in Malaysia before any CO2 credits have been issued from the project, in a move the London-based ratings agency claims is a “world first”.
The agency today said it had issued its first ever “ex-ante” carbon credit rating to the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project, which has been given the top level of ‘Ae’.
The score means the rating agency has deemed the project, which aims to protect an area of forest through sustainably managing land and preventing logging, to have a high likelihood of removing or avoiding a tonne of carbon, it said.
Typically, ratings are given to carbon credit projects after the emission reduction has occurred – meaning that companies or organisations who purchase the credits can claim them against their carbon footprint offsetting immediately.
Ex-ante credits, on the other hand, represent intended emissions reductions of a project that is yet to be fully developed. Advocates argue these credits are an important mechanism for raising money for getting carbon-cutting projects off the ground.
BeZero Carbon’s ex-ante rating system assesses the likelihood that carbon credits produced by a project will remove or avoid a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) before credits hit the market.
The agency said a risk-based rating system for ex-ante credits was “crucial” to the development and scaling of the voluntary carbon market (VCM), noting that an estimated $10bn was being spent annually on developing carbon credit projects around the world.
“Billions of dollars are committed to projects in the primary market each year, but in order to bring about real change, this needs to scale,” said Tommy Rickets, CEO and co-founder of BeZero Carbon. “Our ex ante rating provides buyers with robust assessments of projects before any credits are issued, so they can direct capital with confidence into the projects that can have the most impact.”
The voluntary carbon market remains highly controversial amid ongoing concern it provides a mechanism for governments and companies to delay absolute emission reductions while claiming to be ‘carbon neutral’ or working towards net zero emission targets. Meanwhile, a raft of investigations over the past year have revealed a significant portion of carbon credit projects listed on major registries and bought by companies are failing to deliver the emissions reductions they claim, and in some instances are having detrimental impacts on local biodiversity and communities.
A number of international standards bodies are working to shore up integrity on both the supply and buy sides of the voluntary carbon market in a bid to rebuild trust and unlock much-needed finance for critical carbon removal projects around the world.
It came as leading carbon registry Verra today separately announced it has launched a new methodology for afforestation, reforestation and vegetation projects, in a bid to boost the provision of “higher-quality nature-based removals”.
The organisation came under fire earlier this summer after an investigation in the Guardian alleged that 90 per cent of rainforest credits on its registry were not delivering the carbon emission reductions they claimed. The company denies the allegations.
The new methodology announced today meanwhile – which Verra said could be applied to activities anywhere in the world that increase the density of trees or other types of woody vegetation – relies on remote sensing data to establish a project’s baselines and test its impact on emissions reduction beyond what would have happened without the project – a concept referred to within the industry as ‘additionality’.
Spencer Plumb, senior manager of forest carbon innovation at Verra, said the methodology was the “first of its kind”. “It will ensure the generation of high-quality nature-based removal credits, utilising a dynamic performance benchmark approach that relies on remote sensing of matched control points to establish crediting baseline and test additionality,” he said. “The ARR methodology announcement is another important step as we embark on a new era for Verra.”
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