By Ovunc Kutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) - The administration of US President Joe Biden announced Tuesday new principles for high-integrity voluntary carbon credit markets.
The high-integrity voluntary carbon credit markets (VCMs), also known as carbon credit markets more broadly, have the potential to support decarbonization efforts within the US and globally, accelerating net emissions reductions while reducing their cost, according to a joint report.
Those can be achieved by "unlocking capital and demand for real, additional, lasting, and independently verified emissions reductions and removals," according to the report that was prepared by the White House, Treasury Department, Energy Department and the Agriculture Department.
The Biden administration's new principles include carbon credits to meet credible atmospheric integrity standards and represent real decarbonization, credit-generating activities to avoid environmental and social harm and corporate buyers that use credits to prioritize emissions reductions within their value chains.
They also include credit users to publicly disclose the nature of purchased and retired credits, credit users to accurately reflect the climate effect of retired credits, market participants contributing to efforts that improve market integrity and policymakers to facilitate efficient market participation and seek to lower transaction costs.
"The President’s Investing in America agenda has already catalyzed more than $860 billion in business investments through smart, public incentives in industries of the future like electric vehicles (EVs), clean energy, and semiconductors," the White House said in a statement.
"The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to taking ambitious action to drive the investments needed to achieve our nation’s historic climate goals – cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050," it added.