The final deliberations on COP 29 brought a surprise step forward on the net zero transition. The equity issues of the climate fund dominated most discussions in the media, all of them saying that the tripling from US$100 million to $300 million ($152 million to $458 million) was hardly scratching the surface in dealing with the increased damage from climate change already happening. True, but $300 billion will help.
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The really big issue for me was the resolution on climate certification, which followed up on the UN Report Integrity Matters. The resolution potentially undercuts those who are seeking to claim they are going net zero by choosing to do offsets but are, in fact, just greenwashing. So many fossil fuel companies are choosing this route. Those looking for a few offsets in the built environment sector tell me that there are virtually none left after big fossil fuel companies have grabbed them.
There will now be a UN System of Carbon Credits with much stronger mechanisms to define and manage the offsets and a new country to country trading scheme. No doubt there will be holes found in any of these schemes, but they are likely to be much more transparent and subject to serious review than the private markets have been. Serious commitments to net zero, with integrity defined and checked, are likely to be given the kind of support that the world of finance is looking for. To me, it’s closing in on fossil fuel greenwashing.
The net zero sector is now charging ahead with over $2 trillion now invested, 70 per cent from the private sector. Perhaps the new certification resolution will help push this even faster.
Bill Hare, Perth’s chief executive of Climate Analytics, was one of the authors of the UN report Integrity Matters. He will be presenting his findings, including the latest from COP 29, at the Net Zero Precincts Certification Forum (free and virtual) this Thursday. Still time to sign up.
