Latest news with #ICVCM
Scoop
03-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Cookstove Carbon Credits: Recipe For Cooking The Climate Books
A new report, 'Recipe for Greenwashing', commissioned by Korean NGO Plan 1.5 and co-authored by Carbon Market Watch and Director of the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project Barbara Haya, has revealed that the climate credentials of the Korean Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS) risk being significantly undermined by its inclusion of international carbon credits. The report analyses a sample of 21 clean cookstove projects that have supplied South Korean companies with carbon credits for use under the K-ETS, finding that on average they are likely generating 18.3 times more credits than they should. The analysis finds that the 9.7 million credits (representing 9.7 million tonnes of emissions reductions) likely have a climate impact of only approximately half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (531,979 tCO2e), the equivalent of 18 times more credits than are justified. Cookstove projects constitute the majority of international credits used by companies complying with the K-ETS. Companies under the K-ETS are entitled to match their emission reduction obligations with the purchase of international credits, as long as they exceed no more than 5% of the company's compliance obligation. Break the mould The analysis highlights that reliance on international credits undermines the effectiveness and credibility of the K-ETS. It mirrors the now-abandoned practice in the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), where such credits led to an inflation in supply, price crashes, and delayed domestic decarbonisation. While the EU has banned international credits from its ETS since 2021, the Korean government appears to be taking the opposite approach. Alarmingly, the government is considering raising the limit from 5% of a company's emissions threshold to 10% in the fourth period of the K-ETS (2026-2030). Doubling the share of an already problematic decision will likely have detrimental consequences for the environmental integrity of the policy. The South Korean government also plans to use international credits to reach its United Nations climate target for 2030 by including 37.5 million international credits into its nationally determined contributions. The projects analysed in the report use methodologies AMS-I.E and AMS-II.G to generate carbon credits. Generally, the number of credits a carbon credit project issues under these two methodologies is determined by a number of factors, including actual stove usage, drop-outs, fuel consumption patterns, and many more. Research, as well as a decision by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) in March, has determined that both methodologies lead to over-crediting because these methodologies rely on outdated assumptions that allow a high, and inflated, volume of credits to be generated. Both methodologies were rejected from attaining the ICVCM's Core Carbon Principles label. The wrong path The report calls on the South Korean government to ban international credits from use under the K-ETS, strengthen caps and focus on domestic emissions reductions.
Reuters
07-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Global carbon offset standard approves three clean cookstove methods
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - A global standard setter for voluntary carbon projects has approved three new methods for projects that reduce emissions by switching to cleaner fuels used in domestic cookstoves, hoping to boost buyer confidence in the credits they generate. Carbon trading, through which companies can buy credits from projects that avoid emissions such as cleaner cooking fuels or deforestation prevention schemes, is seen as one way for richer countries to meet their emissions reduction targets at the same time as helping poorer countries move to greener energy and to improve their resilience against climate change. The global voluntary carbon market was worth around $723 million in 2023, according to Ecosystems Marketplace data. Proponents of cookstove projects say that as well as curbing emissions from burning kerosene or coal to cook food, they bring health benefits to households by reducing exposure to air pollution. But critics have warned that the programmes have overstated their, opens new tab emission reduction benefits and overestimated their use. The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), an independent governance body, has sought to address concerns by launching Core Carbon Principle (CCP) standards and is assessing the validity of carbon offset projects. It said the clean cookstove methods approved require a more rigorous approach to determine the baseline fuel being replaced and for monitoring usage. This, it said, will cut the risk of over-crediting. "This will provide the confidence needed to ensure that carbon finance can flow into these projects, enabling them to deliver their social, environmental and health benefits to communities around the world," said Amy Merrill, CEO of the ICVCM. ICVCM said there is a large project pipeline it expects will update their methods to meet the new criteria, with the potential for hundreds of thousands of credits to be issued in the coming year. The ICVCM also approved one household bio-digester - a sealed container designed to break down household waste such as food scraps into a usable cooking fuel.
