Carbon Forward 2024

Carbon Forward 2024 took place in London last week, a 3-day event focused on the evolving landscape of carbon markets and environmental policies. Participants from various sectors, including government, finance, energy, and aviation came together to discuss key issues such as compliance carbon market reforms, the expansion of voluntary carbon markets, carbon removals, Article 6 and CORSIA. 

 The focus of interest was very much on the compliance markets and consequently there was a lot of interest in DelAgua as one of the very few project developers who have secured LoAs. DelAgua has LoAs with host governments for our projects in Rwanda, The Gambia and Sierra Leone and are able to offer Article 6 CA tagged credits, along with insurance from Oka. This means DelAgua credits should be among the first CORSIA eligible credits on the market following ICAO approval of VERRA. 

Day 1 covered Global Carbon Markets and Finance. DelAgua’s Commercial and Financial Director Rory McDougall joined a panel discussion titled ‘Article 6 – The Future of International Carbon Trade’ alongside: 

  • Moderator Mark Lewis, Head of Climate Research, ANDURAND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLP  
  • Andrea Bonzanni, International Policy Director, IETA 
  • Andrew Howard, Senior Director, Climate Policy and Strategy, Verra 
  • Dexter Lee, Head of Carbon Markets Negotiations, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (ESNZ) 
  • Basak Odemis, Carbon Finance Lead, IFC – International Finance Corporation, The World Bank Group 

The panel looked ahead to COP29 in Baku, discussing whether countries might reach a consensus on the key unresolved elements of Article 6. 

Day 2 covered European Compliance Markets, covering key developments in the EU and UK Emissions Trading Systems. Topics such as the carbon pricing mechanisms for shipping and aviation, the inclusion of removals in compliance markets, and the role of traders in navigating market opportunities were discussed. 

Day 3 looked at The Evolving Voluntary Carbon Market and started with a Women in Carbon breakfast meeting followed by a keynote from Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard, addressing the current state of the VCM. Other key sessions across the day covered the ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principles, exploring whether these new benchmarks will drive investments or hold the market back. There was also a session on emerging standards and methodologies in the VCM. The day concluded with a forward-looking discussion on VCM trends over the next five years. 

Carbon Forward offered a great opportunity to be able to meet with many different existing and future partners.  Thank you to the Carbon Forward team for organising a well-executed conference. The expo created an excellent platform for critical discussions on the future of carbon markets and included valuable dialogue among many key industry participants. 

Photo Credit: Carbon Forward London 2024