Navigating the energy transition: developments in the voluntary carbon markets

Taylor Root recently hosted an engaging roundtable breakfast– Navigating the energy transition: developments in the voluntary carbon markets. he session was led by guest speaker, Peter Zaman, Partner at HFW, followed by a highly informative discussion moderated by our panellists, Hai Tran and Bryan McCann from Climate Impact X (CIX).

We welcomed 10 General Counsels and senior lawyers from the energy and commodities industries at our Singapore office. The morning started off with an informal networking session over breakfast, with attendees taking this opportunity to catch up with familiar faces and to get to know their peers from the industry. We dove into the event proper with Peter’s presentation, followed by a discussion where we touched on various topics.

There is significant interest from companies to tap on the carbon markets to address their emissions and its an important aspect of climate strategy. However, there remains confusion around how businesses can engage with carbon markets in a credible and high integrity way.

The event presented an opportunity for our attendees to hear from the expert himself – Peter, who has over 20 years’ of experience across UK, Europe and Asia practicing law in climate finance and the environmental markets. Peter kickstart our roundtable with his presentation “Demystifying critical concepts of the voluntary carbon markets”.  In his presentation, Peter shared about topics in the voluntary carbon markets including “reductions vs removals”, “double counting vs double claiming” and “offsetting claims vs contribution claims”.

Peter’s presentation helped to shed light on key definitions in the voluntary carbon markets, and application of these definitions against Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Additionally, he helped to lay out the potential impact on companies when adopting certain methodology to meet emission targets.

During the discussion, we delved into a broad array of topics including differentiating between a country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) versus Corporates’ NDC, the different types of carbon credits available in the markets and strategies adopted by corporates when it comes to the purchase and hedging of carbon credits. We benefit greatly from Hai’s and Bryan’s insights, who shared perspectives given the crucial role that CIX plays in the Carbon markets ecosystem.

Given the recent negative media surrounding purchase strategies of carbon credits, we had a wider conversation about recent challenges in managing perception. Hai and Bryan shared with our attendees about CIX’s curation process and how it works closely suppliers to ensure the quality and integrity of carbon credits listed on their platform.

It was a privilege to have Peter join us for our General Counsel roundtable, we gained valuable insights and knowledge about the voluntary carbon market. Thanks to Hai and Bryan for leading the discussion, and to all of our attendees who shared their experiences.

Our market report and salary guide 2023-24 will be available to download shortly. For further information on the event or for assistance building out your legal team or making a move yourself, please contact Theresa Pang.