Market Initiatives

The latest IPCC report highlights the urgency to fully decarbonise our global economy. Carbon markets can help accelerate and finance the transition to net-zero emissions by enabling businesses and individuals to take accountability for their unavoidable emissions through the purchase of carbon credits.

This helps close the emissions gap towards the temperature goals under the Paris Agreement, the finance gap where urgently needed climate action is not yet funded, and the time gap that favours action today over waiting for sufficient policy measures from governments.

Driving finance to high impact climate protection activities
However much we try to reduce our footprint, in our current world some emissions are still unavoidable. Financing emission reductions by purchasing high impact carbon credits is a way to take responsibility for your climate impact and to take action beyond your own footprint.

The Paris Agreement marks a major step-change from previous international efforts to address climate change. All countries now have national targets in the form of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which will become increasingly ambitious and broad in scope over time with a view to achieving a global balance of anthropogenic emissions sinks and sources in the second half of this century.

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement enables countries to voluntarily cooperate with each other to achieve emission reduction targets set out in their NDCs.

• Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement creates the basis for trading in GHG emission reductions (i.e., mitigation outcomes) across countries cooperate by means, including, but not limited to, baseline-and-crediting arrangements and emissions trading schemes.
• Article 6.4 establishes a centralised crediting mechanism akin to the Clean Development Mechanism that has existed under the Kyoto Protocol.
• Article 6.8 recognises non-market approaches to promote mitigation and adaptation, such as through finance, capacity building and technology transfer.

To ensure continued integrity, eligibility across different markets internationally, and to mitigate any risk of inadvertently undermining international efforts to address climate change, alignment to Article 6 is essential. To support this alignment and the operationalisation of Article 6, Gold Standard has introduced a number of initiatives as well as published several thought leadership articles.

The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is a global market-based mechanism established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation. Airlines from participating countries are required to monitor, report and offset emissions growth above a 2019 baseline using eligible carbon credits.

CORSIA is being implemented in phases, with Phase 1 (2024–2026) currently underway and Phase 2 (2027–2035) expanding participation and making compliance mandatory for most countries. The scheme complements other aviation decarbonisation measures, including efficiency improvements and sustainable aviation fuels, by addressing emissions that cannot yet be reduced directly.

Gold Standard is recognised by ICAO as an eligible crediting programme for CORSIA. Appropriately authorised and labelled Gold Standard Verified Emission Reductions (GSVERs) can be used by airlines to meet their obligations and are clearly identified in the Gold Standard Impact Registry.

At least 42% of electricity must be supplied by renewable sources by 2030 to reach net zero emissions by midcentury -- the ambition of the Paris Agreement -- which requires doubling renewable power capacity. The private sector is key to this transition, yet some companies are limited in their ability to source renewable energy directly. Renewable energy markets allow these companies to purchase clean energy from their grid.

By purchasing clean energy -- whether directly or through renewable energy markets -- companies demonstrate a commitment to being more environmentally friendly, something clients, consumers + civil society are increasingly demanding.