A non-profit organisation for the certification and registration of carbon credits in Asia, called the Asia Carbon Institute (ACI), launched in Singapore today.
The organisation is a voluntary carbon credit standard that will employ “rigorous project validation and verification processes” in order to ensure that every carbon credit represents a genuine, measurable, and permanent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the release dated Aug 29.
ACI will focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation projects that use advanced carbon reduction and removal technologies. The organisation is seeking to collaborate with international and regional standard bodies, financial and scientific communities, and GHG mitigation project developers.
According to the release, Asia as a hub for carbon-intensive manufacturing industries has little focus on carbon credits that addresses these areas. ACI believes that a key way to incentivise the adoption of sustainable practices is through voluntary carbon credits.
“Nature-based solutions alone are not enough to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 – we need other types of reduction and removal solutions,” says John Lo, founder of ACI. “Technology-based and urban-related solutions are particularly relevant to Asia and are our focus at ACI.”
As part of the launch, ACI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the British Standard Institution (BSI) to innovate on ways to improve the efficiency and transparency of validation and verification processes related to carbon credit.
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ACI provides an independent, science-based review of project developments and supports the issuance and registration of voluntary carbon credits. Its mission is to help companies accelerate the transition towards their net zero goals.
The senior vice president of environmental sustainability at the Singapore Economic Development Board, Lim Wey-Len said: “ACI has the potential to contribute to the global effort to tackle climate change as it aims to channel financing to advanced climate technologies and sustainable practices. Singapore welcomes like-minded organisations such as ACI that are committed to supporting the low-carbon transition. We look forward to ACI joining our carbon services ecosystem and contributing towards building a high integrity global carbon market.”
Earlier this year, the carbon credit industry was hit with claims of invalidity after an investigation into Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard for the rapidly growing US$2 billion ($2.71 billion) voluntary offsets market, revealed that more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets were worthless. The investigation found that the “phantom credits”, used mostly by large companies such as Disney and Shell, do not represent genuine carbon reductions.
