Sri Lankan outfit plans to launch carbon credit marketplace in 2024.
By: Staff Writer
January 09, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka plans to start claiming credits from greenhouse gas emission savings in green projects such as hydropower and garbage management, joining other developing Asian countries in profiting from the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
The government is now strengthening the framework for monitoring, reporting and verification, and for registry needs and made internationally compatible, Finance Ministry sources said.
It has ambitious carbon-reduction targets under its Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework for Combatting Climate Change.
Quantum Commodity Intelligence – A Sri Lankan firm which has teamed up with the country’s environment ministry in a blockchain-based initiative to create a new carbon standard and registry is planning to launch a carbon credit marketplace in 2024.
SavePlanetEarth said its Planetary Carbon Standard (PCS), a strategic partnership with the Sri Lanka Climate Fund under the Ministry of Environment, uses blockchain technology, to ensure transparency and traceability in carbon credit transactions plus advanced remote sensing and AI technologies for precise monitoring and verification of carbon sequestration projects.
The PCS website describes it as “a simplified version of existing carbon standards,” developed by SPE for “assessing, monitoring, estimating, verifying, and validating carbon sequestration of afforestation and reforestation projects, as well as evaluating carbon negative effects of tenewable energy projects.”
“Despite its potential, the carbon credit market faces significant challenges that undermine its effectiveness and credibility,” SPE said.
“Greenwashing, quality and integrity of credits, double counting, and complexity and accessibility are critical issues that SavePlanetEarth’s Planetary Carbon Standard aims to address.”
The company said it has developed a digital platform to streamline the carbon credit certification process, adding that the platform “democratizes access to carbon trading, allowing project owners of all sizes to participate easily and effectively.”
SPE plans to launch its marketplace in 2024, aiming to provide “a transparent, efficient, and reliable platform for trading carbon credits,” backed by the technology that powers the PCS.
“With millions of hectares under application from Africa and a significant amount of credits already approved for sale, the marketplace is poised to set new standards in the carbon credit industry,” SPE said.
The PCS website currently lists three verified projects, one of which – the Tokenize Amazon Project in Brazil – has just over 1.7 million credits for sale.
The other two projects listed – a bamboo afforestation project in Kenya and a hydropower renewable energy project in Sri Lanka – currently have no credits for sale, although the Kenyan project has 900,000 credits under evaluation.
Sri Lanka’s Carbon Crediting Scheme (SLCCS) supports greenhouse gas emission reduction and enables companies to earn SL Certified Emission Reduction Units (SCERs) for their efforts to reduce emissions.
The government will have to set a price benchmark by announcing what its carbon tax rate will be for the next three to four years.
