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Carbon Markets: Balancing Skepticism and Potential

The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) faces a paradox: growing skepticism amid increasing recognition of its vital role in climate action. This panel explores this dichotomy and the VCM's function in mitigating carbon emissions. With the VCM channeling over $1.2 billion in 2022 (WEF, 2023) and potentially growing to $1 trillion by 2050 (Viridios, 2023), we'll examine how stakeholders embrace high-quality carbon credits and discuss market integrity efforts, including transparency and standardization, and offer steps for companies to leverage carbon offsets effectively in their climate strategies.

Panel Speakers

Navigating PE and VC's Largest Roadblocks to Decarbonization

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms today deal trillions of dollar value annually, with climate change becoming a larger deal driver. Most firms now recognize that attitudes towards sustainable investing have drastically shifted, even in just the last ten years, necessitating firm-level action to reduce their assets' emissions. In this session -a diverse panel of leading PE and VC firms and one of the largest institutional investors, moderated by CarbonBetter- we'll explore factors that prevent private capital from the green transition and how to navigate these roadblocks.

Panel Speakers

Scaling CDR: The Path to 10 Gt Annual Removal by 2050

Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR) are crucial for climate action, extracting CO2 for sequestration or reuse. Scientists estimate 10 Gt of CO2 removals are needed to meet 1.5°C goals (IPCC, 2022), but current methods remove only 2 billion tonnes annually. CDR faces challenges in availability, quality, durability, and cost. The voluntary carbon market is vital for funding CDR, with removal credits growing rapidly (Ecosystem Marketplace, 2022). This panel will explore navigating these challenges to scale while balancing quality, durability, and cost for CDR projects.

Panel Speakers