Measuring Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions is a complex matter, and nobody will accomplish it in a year’s time. In fact, everyone who is on the decarbonisation journey “will stumble”, says Margaret Kim, chief executive officer of carbon credit verifier Gold Standard.
In her opening keynote at the GenZero Climate Summit on April 16, Kim says: “We need to create a community where we are observing, watching [and] supporting that progressive journey; I cannot stress this enough.”
Opening an afternoon of panels featuring fellow carbon market player Verra and representatives from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), Kim’s address veered on the defensive after a turbulent 2023 for the voluntary carbon markets.
“We can sit and talk about additionality forever; we can sit and talk about permanence forever. But is that going to fix the problem? It’s the entire ecosystem that has to change, from supply to demand,” says Kim, who was appointed chief of Gold Standard in 2019.
The individual is also a stakeholder in the ecosystem, says Kim, as “consumers of products and services, consumers of media, and social media”. “We love debating over things. We love clickbait titles. But are we doing this to put positive pressure on actors to act with high integrity? Or are we doing it because it’s just human nature to debate?”
See also: Verra CEO resigns after 15 years, president appointed in February set to take over
Last year, a slew of media exposés accused carbon credit players like Verra, Gold Standard and South Pole of overstating the actual environmental impact of their products.
After months of dismissing the claims, Verra’s founding CEO stepped down in June 2023. South Pole’s chief followed suit in November 2023.
British daily The Guardian, which published in January 2023 the first of many stories exposing the voluntary carbon markets, followed up with an article this January claiming cookstove carbon offsets overstate their climate benefit by 1,000%.
See also: Are carbon credits credible?
These projects distribute cookstoves to those in developing countries. By providing cookstoves that use liquified petroleum gas, or burn fuels like charcoal or wood more efficiently, carbon credits are issued for the substitution of kerosene, biomass or coal as cooking fuel.
Cookstove projects were under huge scrutiny in the past 12 months, says Kim. “What kind of private investor or traditional finance would have financed that other than the carbon markets that we have today?”
In defence of these projects, Kim says they have benefited communities. “[It] not only reduced the carbon emission in those projects, it sent children to school instead of fetching wood, it enabled women to engage in more economic activities, so that livelihoods are enhanced in those households and communities, it decreased the pollution level in houses from cooking, and therefore had a positive impact on health.”
All members of the industry have a responsibility to help the carbon markets progress, adds Kim. “What do we mean by integrity? I see integrity as a very subjective matter. Who decides what’s high integrity? It’s not just the role of the standard body; it’s not just the role of NGOs; it’s not just the role of market participants; it’s a role that sits with everyone, every participant in the value chain in the carbon market ecosystem.”
The industry can stand to be more understanding, according to Kim. “Integrity also comes from recognising that [decarbonisation] journey, acknowledging that it’s going to be difficult sometimes, and being mindful [that] the buyers, the private sector, the corporates have conflicting priorities. You have [the] supply chain crisis, energy price crisis, all this stuff; climate change is a side topic. We want to move away from that.”
Photo: GenZero
