Carbon Direct Releases the 2024 Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal in Collaboration with Microsoft
2024年7月11日 - 9:22PM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
- Newly released Criteria builds upon the U.S. government’s
recent Joint Policy Statement to scale high-integrity solutions in
the voluntary carbon market.
- The latest updates to the Criteria align the benchmarks for
high-quality carbon dioxide removal with the latest scientific and
policy advances.
- The 2024 edition also provides enhanced guidance for buyers and
project developers on environmental harms and benefits.
Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, today announced
the release of the 2024 edition of the Criteria for High-Quality
Carbon Dioxide Removal. The 2024 edition advances the work done by
Carbon Direct and Microsoft since the inaugural Criteria were
introduced in 2021 to address the quality challenges in the
voluntary carbon market through the development of rigorous,
science-based standards for carbon dioxide removal projects. The
Criteria are designed to provide carbon removal project developers
with regularly updated guidance to ensure project quality, and to
offer buyers of carbon removal credits a starting point for
evaluating the quality of their carbon credits portfolios.
>> Read the 2024 Criteria for
High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal
“Since first publishing the Criteria in 2021, Microsoft and
Carbon Direct have been on a mission to establish and share
benchmarks that provide a roadmap for project developers to deliver
high-quality tonnes, increase buyer confidence, and drive market
demand for these critical climate mitigation tools,” said Jon
Goldberg, CEO, Carbon Direct. “The 2024 edition of the Criteria
continues to refine these benchmarks, aligning them with the latest
scientific and policy knowledge to accelerate scale in the
voluntary carbon market.”
The latest edition sets forth essential principles for
high-quality carbon removal and advances the benchmarks for quality
across both established and emerging carbon dioxide removal
solutions represented in the voluntary carbon market, including
direct air capture, reforestation, and biomass-based carbon
removal. The 2024 edition provides updates across the six essential
principles as well as each of the carbon removal methods.
- New guidance on environmental harms and benefits.
Regardless of whether they are engineered, hybrid, or nature-based
solutions, carbon projects are grounded in physical space and have
an impact on the environment in which they occur. Although people
and the environment are inextricably linked, it is essential to
address environmental harms and benefits directly. The latest
edition provides updated guidance for buyers and project developers
with continued emphasis on environmental justice, procedural
equity, and social harms and benefits.
- Clarification on carbon accounting and monitoring,
reporting, and verification. The 2024 edition changes “Carbon
accounting and monitoring, reporting, and verification” to
“Measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification” to avoid
confusion with corporate carbon accounting.
According to the most recent International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) synthesis report, over a billion tonnes of carbon
removal per year will be required by 2030—and 5 to 10 billion
tonnes will be required per year by 2050—to meet climate mitigation
targets under the Paris Agreement. Today, only 0.008 billion tonnes
of CO2 are removed per year through high-quality carbon removals.
With this gap in mind, actors across both public and private
sectors are accelerating efforts to scale high-quality carbon
removal.
- In the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) have resulted in
substantial new investment and innovation in carbon removal.
- In May 2024, the US federal government also took critical steps
to improve the quality of available credits when the White House
announced the Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy Statement and
Principles.
- Companies like Microsoft are engaging in forward offtake of
high-quality carbon projects across nature-based, hybrid, and
engineered pathways, signaling clear demand for these tonnes.
“The science-based criteria provide widely applicable quality
benchmarks for project developers to design and develop effective
carbon dioxide removal projects,” said Katie Sierks, Microsoft CDR
Science and Quality Lead. “For carbon removal purchasers, including
Microsoft, these benchmarks provide specific guidance for
evaluating projects and help build trust in voluntary carbon market
quality.”
Carbon Direct and Microsoft will continue to collaboratively
refine this guidance over the coming years. In subsequent
iterations, the companies expect to develop additional guidance for
nascent carbon removal pathways, potentially including peatland and
freshwater wetland restoration, carbon dioxide utilization, and
marine carbon removal pathways like ocean alkalinity
enhancement.
To read the blog from Carbon Direct, visit:
https://www.carbon-direct.com/insights/2024-criteria-for-high-quality-carbon-dioxide-removal
To read the Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal,
visit:
https://www.carbon-direct.com/research-and-reports/criteria-for-high-quality-carbon-dioxide-removal
About Carbon Direct
Carbon Direct helps organizations go from climate goal to
climate action. We combine technology with deep expertise in
climate science, policy, and carbon markets to deliver carbon
emission footprints, actionable reduction strategies, and
high-quality carbon dioxide removal. With Carbon Direct, clients
can set and equitably deliver on their climate commitments,
streamline compliance, and manage risk through transparency and
scientific credibility.
Our expertise is trusted by global climate leaders including
Microsoft, American Express, and Alaska Airlines, as well as by the
World Economic Forum, which selected Carbon Direct as an
Implementation Partner for the First Movers Coalition. To learn
more, visit www.carbon-direct.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240711800801/en/
Carbon Direct Media Contact: Rachel Pepple
press@carbon-direct.com