It’s AND, Not OR: How Carbon Credits Complement Deep Decarbonisation

“Carbon credits used cannot be counted as their [polluters’] own emission reductions when purchased in voluntary markets outside of government-regulated schemes in which companies can trade permits giving them the right to pollute.” – The Financial Times, referring to a draft document from the UN task force on global carbon markets

Increasingly, there is a significant amount of mixed messaging regarding the role that the voluntary carbon market (VCM) has to play in the fight against climate change and its projected level of impact in the coming decades. Recently, the United Nations Task Force on Global Carbon Markets drafted a report outlining its opposition to corporations using carbon credits to offset their emissions and instead promoting investment in decarbonisation alone.

Yet, at the same time, an influential report has also recently been released by leading scientific voices on the state of carbon dioxide removal which declares that the carbon removal industry must dramatically scale if the world is to achieve our 2015 Paris Agreement climate objectives. Put simply, this can only be achieved by using voluntary markets that finance and fund the removal of billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.

Interpreting Conflicting Views on Carbon Credits and Decarbonisation

It’s easy for businesses, especially those early on in their sustainability and net zero journeys, to get confused by conflicting advice from reputable sources on how and if to use carbon credits and the VCM. At UNDO, we maintain that the short answer to these questions is as follows:

Do as much decarbonisation as you can, as quickly as you can, while also developing relationships with carbon removal project developers to secure future supply.  

“We are in the foothills of the gargantuan task to scale carbon removal capacity across the globe. We need to get behind it now to maintain a 1.5-degree centigrade pathway. Don’t let what is an incredible opportunity to learn about different project types and invest in a portfolio today turn into a kind of a removal supply nightmare tomorrow.” – UNDO’s Head of Carbon, Simon Manley

Climate action for any business must be a multi-pronged approach. Deep decarbonisation must be prioritised, but businesses will never reach net zero if they don’t begin to think about their carbon removal strategy now. The final 10-20% of carbon footprints are notoriously hard to decarbonise. Known as hard-to-abate emissions, these are elements of a business’s supply chain tied to sectors that haven’t become carbon-friendly or elements of the business that don’t have environmentally sustainable solutions yet. To achieve net zero, businesses will need access to high-permanence, high-quality carbon credits that offset these unavoidable emissions. 

Without funding and incentives, essential carbon removal projects may not scale to meet future demand or may not survive. This is why it’s suggested that businesses invest now in high-quality project developers. Secure supply and relationships so that when you are ready to offset your hard-to-abate emissions, you’ll feel confident that your business has developed a solid portfolio of offset solutions.

It’s AND, not OR.

Integrating Carbon Credits with Decarbonisation: Science and Strategy

“The amount of carbon removal required depends on how quickly we reduce GHG emissions across other systems and the extent to which climate targets are overshot, with estimates ranging from between 5 GtCO₂ to 16 GtCO₂ per year needed by mid-century.” – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)

The Trellis article linked in the first paragraph highlights that the longer we delay scaling up CO₂ removal, the quicker we will need to decarbonise to maintain a liveable planet for future generations. On the other hand, if we can cut emissions faster, we have more time to develop removal capacity. The inertia of governments and corporations shows that relying on dramatic action in the coming years to slow our emissions rates would be naive. While those who care about the human future on the planet want to see this deep decarbonisation at a much quicker rate, we cannot rely on this outcome. We must continue to innovate and deploy at scale as quickly as possible both known and novel, nature-based and engineered, removal technologies that will ramp up over time. 

It’s AND, not OR.

Enhanced Rock Weathering: A High-Quality Carbon Removal Solution

UNDO’s enhanced rock weathering (ERW) solution is a high-permanence carbon dioxide removal method that, if scaled, could significantly mitigate climate change. ERW captures atmospheric carbon and stores it in the oceans for thousands of years, providing substantial co-benefits such as improved soil health, food security and ocean deacidification. Studies show that ERW has the potential to remove up to four billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Investing in such high-quality carbon removal solutions is crucial for businesses aiming to achieve net zero.

Carbon removal puts the ‘net’ in ‘net zero.’

Businesses should adopt a dual approach to climate action by prioritising deep decarbonisation and integrating high-quality carbon removal strategies. By doing so, they can effectively address hard-to-abate emissions and contribute to global climate goals.

It's AND, not OR.

Interested to learn more about ERW or how your business should be thinking about CDR as a part of its sustainability strategy?

Speak to our team