Forestry-backed carbon credit trading faces hurdles in Asia despite COP26 pledge by global leaders to halt deforestation, says WWF-Hong Kong
- Finding projects of the right quality and scalability poses a challenge, according to the head of environmental finance at the conservation organisation
- More than 100 global leaders pledged at the recent climate talks in Glasgow to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by the end of the decade
The trading of carbon credits backed by forestry projects faces barriers in Asia despite the recent launch of a voluntary carbon exchange in Singapore and pledges by world leaders to halt deforestation at COP26.
The Singapore-based carbon exchange and global marketplace set up by DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered and sovereign fund manager Temasek will host regular auctions from early next year.
“The fundamentals and the motivations [of Climate Impact X] appear to be in the right place. We need to see what happens with it, but it looks like they’re moving in the right direction,” said Jean-Marc Champagne, head of environmental finance and bankable nature solutions, Asia-Pacific, at WWF-Hong Kong.
However, forestry-based carbon trading in Asia poses challenges in terms of finding projects of the right quality and scalability, according to Champagne.