I en ny artikel introducerer MSCI begrebet the Carbon Market Age. Den centrale pointe er, at kulstofmarkedet spiller en væsentlig rolle i forhold til at dekarbonisere den globale økonomi – tanken er enkel: ved at sætte en pris på kulstof gives incitament til at reducere emissioner.
Ifølge MSCI er kulstofmarkeder kategoriseret som enten frivillige kulstofmarkeder (VCM’s) eller overholdelse af kulstofmarkeder (CCM’s), som er væsentligt forskellige fra hinanden, hvad angår reguleringer, påvirkning og markedsstørrelse, mv.
Hertil tilføjer de:
“VCMs are unregulated markets that enable individuals, firms, governments and nongovernmental organizations to buy carbon offsets from project developers on a voluntary basis to achieve carbon compensation and neutralization. Compensation includes environmentally and socially useful projects to avoid further carbon emissions and support new technologies, resulting in less carbon emissions. Neutralization includes carbon-emission-reduction projects using natural (e.g., reforestation) and technology-based carbon-capture and -storage techniques. Companies can voluntarily purchase carbon offsets, certified by private standards, as part of their sustainability strategy. The size of VCMs is still relatively small, with approximately USD 1 billion of carbon offsets traded in 2021, […] currently lacking scale for institutional investors. Also, a lack of high quality (environmental and social integrity of projects) carbon offsets have held back the growth of this market.”
“CCMs are also referred to as emissions-trading systems (ETS) or cap-and-trade programs. They are marketplace mechanisms where regulators auction off, or distribute for free, a limited number of carbon allowances to various regulated companies. Each carbon allowance typically allows its owner to emit one ton of a pollutant such as CO2. Firms that are more efficient in their emission reductions can sell unused allowances to companies that need to purchase allowances for excess emissions. The idea behind carbon markets is that once the price of carbon has been internalized efficiently, the regulators allow the market to optimally decide the usage of their resources (buy credits vs. reducing emissions) with a lever to reduce the overall supply of emission allowances gradually.”
Ideen bag kulstofmarkeder er, at når prisen på kulstof er blevet internaliseret effektivt, tillader regulatorer markedet at bestemme brugen af ressourcer ved at købe kreditter eller reducere emissioner. Nøglen til dette hurtigtvoksende marked er dets forbindelse til global opvarmning og opnåelsen af netto-nul udledninger.
Læs mere her: https://www.msci.com/www/blog-posts/introducing-the-carbon-market/03227158119
