(12 July 2021 – Global) Four global banks are jointly launching “Project Carbon”, a pilot platform for buying and selling voluntary carbon credits for enterprises.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Itaú Unibanco, NAB and NatWest Group jointly stated that the Voluntary Carbon Marketplace pilot launching next month will enable a liquid market for carbon offsets and help businesses manage risks associated with climate change. The partnership between the groups represents the first of what is anticipated to be a series of initiatives from the like-minded institutions.
The pilot brings efficiency, liquidity and global standards to the carbon offset ecosystem to drive transparency. Corporates globally are using carbon offsets as an effective method to implement climate action strategies. One of the problems facing private carbon markets is the price of carbon offset credits can vary wildly. The platform aims to introduce price discovery to participants and observers by publishing executed trade sizes and prices.
Project The international joint effort between the four global Banks endeavours to support a thriving global marketplace for quality carbon offsets with clear and consistent pricing and standards, generating a valuable pathway for each group’s clients in their efforts to achieve a net zero goal. The Banks strongly believe the Project Carbon platform can encourage greater engagement among CFOs and corporate treasurers by removing hurdles such as paperwork and manual processes that can discourage participants.
The platform will enable buyers to fully trace which projects the carbon credits have come from and act as a ledger for carbon credit ownership. The banks also plan to integrate blockchain technology for the beneficial of trading credits and enabling wider market access to customers. The technology backing the scheme has been in development for six months and will operate on a private Ethereum platform developed by ConsenSys.
The project will facilitate increased delivery of high-quality carbon offset projects, a liquid carbon credit marketplace with price certainty and transparency, the creation of a strong ecosystem to support the offset market and the development of tools to help clients manage climate risk.
“Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time. We’re helping our business and personal banking customers to understand and reduce their carbon footprints through partnerships like Project Carbon” commented NatWest Group CEO, Alison Rose.
“Tackling climate change is everyone’s job. We’re helping to find solutions and support our customers as they take action to transition to Net-Zero by 2050. Project Carbon is a terrific example of how technologies such as blockchain can address existing barriers and make carbon offsets more accessible for our customers – as part of their broader plans to reduce overall emissions and achieve their own targets” commented NAB Group CEO, Ross McEwan.
“The team is keen to invite like-minded institutions to join the cohort to help deliver a shared service platform that the group believes will be fundamental to the scaling of the Voluntary Carbon Market” the bank consortium said.