By Mathew Carr
July 8, 2021 (LONDON): One of Brazil’s biggest banks Itau Unibanco is among a group of four located across the world seeking to use high-tech to bring transparency and trading volume to the voluntary carbon markets.
The others in the group are CIBC in Canada, NAB in Australia and NatWest Group in the U.K.
Context: The voluntary carbon markets are seeing increased demand this year, yet they face tremendous barriers as corporate and individual buyers are unsure how to navigate the complex systems and United Nations envoys struggle to provide global guidance about what’s truly green. The projects offering supply of carbon credits are often not receiving a fair return for their efforts and are being unfairly criticised by ignorant environmental lobby groups.
The world, which is seeking to halve emissions by 2030 to try to keep temperatures from rising 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, probably can’t afford to wait any longer for the UN envoys to provide the guidance on carbon markets. They are meeting in November in Glasgow in a bid to try to do so. Their failure so far and agitation from pension funds is why the private sector is taking the climate fight into its own hands.
Voluntary carbon markets can provide a way to repair climate injustice. Rich people have caused the crisis, while poor people struggle to deal with the fallout.
Quote:
“Tackling climate change is everyone’s job. We’re helping to find solutions and support our customers as they take action to transition to Net-Zero by 2050. Project Carbon is a terrific example of how technologies such as blockchain can address existing barriers and make carbon offsets more accessible for our customers – as part of their broader plans to reduce overall emissions and achieve their own targets.”
Victor Dodig, President and Chief Executive Officer, CIBC; Milton Maluhy Filho, CEO, Itaú Unibanco; Ross McEwan, Group CEO, National Australia Bank; Alison Rose, CEO, NatWest Group.
Here is the full announcement as on the Itau website: https://www.itau.com.br/relacoes-com-investidores/Download.aspx?Arquivo=fFVjT5ye2yaAobsbMLiqnA==&linguagem=en
CIBC, Itaú, NAB and NatWest Group launch carbon offset platform to drive
transparency in Voluntary Carbon Market
— Pilot brings efficiency, liquidity and global standards to the carbon offset ecosystem
LONDON, United Kingdom, TORONTO, Canada, SYDNEY, Australia, SAO PAULO, Brazil, July 7
[TBD], 2021 /CNW/ – As part of an international joint effort, CIBC (TSX:CM) (NYSE:CM), Itaú Unibanco
(NYSE:ITUB),National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) and NatWest Group (LSE:NWG) today announced
Project Carbon, a Voluntary Carbon Marketplace pilot.
Corporations worldwide are using carbon offsets as a tool to implement their climate action
strategies. Project Carbon aims to support a thriving global marketplace for quality carbon offsets
with clear and consistent pricing and standards and will provide a valuable pathway for our clients in
their efforts to achieve a net zero goal.
Our project will facilitate:
• Increased delivery of high-quality carbon offset projects
• A liquid carbon credit marketplace with price certainty and transparency
• The creation of a strong ecosystem to support the offset market
• The development of tools to help clients manage climate risk
In alignment with the leading Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM),
established by Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, the project
helps remove current barriers to voluntary carbon offset purchasing.
Project Carbon will initially be launched as a pilot in August to demonstrate the operational, legal and
technical capability of the platform.
The team is keen to invite like-minded institutions to join the cohort to help deliver a shared service
platform that the group believes will be fundamental to the scaling of the Voluntary Carbon Market.
Key Features
• Represents the book of record for ownership of Carbon Credits
• Allows owners of credits to clearly demonstrate possession to the market, thus reducing
risks of double counting and simplifying reporting
• Supports price discovery through the posting of executed trade sizes and prices to the
market
• Promotes project investment through the transparent demonstration of market demand
• Provides full traceability and linkage back to source of the credit
• Assists Registries by facilitating the rapid scaling of client base
• Takes care of post trade settlement, allowing all market participants including exchanges
and marketplaces to offer value add services on top.
• Aligned with the objectives of the TSVCM
• Pilot built on a private Ethereum platform developed with ConsenSys
“As a financial institution, we work with all sectors of the economy and therefore have a central role
in fighting climate change. We are committed to develop products and services aligned with the
needs of the market and society, guided by trust and transparency, while focused on the
sustainability of our business. The voluntary carbon markets complement the efforts of carbon
emissions reductions globally, in order to foster a low carbon economy.” Milton Maluhy Filho, CEO,
Itaú Unibanco
About CIBC
CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with 10 million personal banking, business,
public sector and institutional clients. Across Personal and Business Banking, Commercial Banking
and Wealth Management, and Capital Markets businesses, CIBC offers a full range of advice,
solutions and services through its leading digital banking network, and locations across Canada
with offices in the United States and around the world. Ongoing news releases and more
information about CIBC can be found at http://www.cibc.com/en/about-cibc/media-centre.html.
About Itaú:
Itaú Unibanco’s purpose is to promote people’s power of transformation and we do it through a
strategic agenda focused on client centricity and digital transformation, based also on the diversity
of our people. The largest bank in Latin America, Itaú Unibanco is present in 18 countries and has
more than 56 million customers, among individuals and companies in all segments, to whom we
offer the best experiences in financial products and services. Itaú Unibanco has been selected for
the 21st consecutive time to be part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), being
the only Latin American financial institution to be part of the index since its creation in 1999.
About National Australia Bank:
National Australia Bank (NAB) is a financial services organisation that serves eight million
customers at more than 900 locations in Australia, New Zealand and around the world. Our
strategic ambition is to serve customers well and help our communities prosper. As Australia’s
largest business bank, we work with small, medium and large businesses to help them start, run and
grow. NAB has been carbon neutral for 10 years and is committed to delivering $70 billion in
environmental financing by 2025. We are an inaugural signatory of the United Nations’ (UN)
Principles for Responsible Banking and the only Australian bank to have signed the UN
Environment Programme Finance Initiative’s Collective Commitment to Climate Action, working
towards aligning business operations and lending portfolios to achieve net zero carbon emissions
by 2050.
About NatWest Group:
NatWest Group is a leading banking and financial services group in the UK and Ireland. We operate
through a number of well-known banking brands. We have a presence on the high street through
our customer facing brands – NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank. We are the largest
supporter of UK business, banking around 1 in 4 businesses across the UK. Our private banking
customers know us through their relationships with Coutts, Adam & Company, Child & Co and
Drummonds. And NatWest Markets help our corporate and institutional clients manage their
financial risks and achieve their short and long-term financial goals.
To learn more about Project Carbon:
Canada: mailbox.projectcarbon@cibc.com
Brazil: imprensa@itau-unibanco.com.br
Australia: carbonproject@nab.com.au
United Kingdom: projectcarbon@natwest.com
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Here is a chart to explain some of the steps a company may need to consider to become carbon neutral by 2035:
NOTES:
PR Newswire version: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cibc-itau-nab-and-natwest-group-launch-carbon-offset-platform-to-drive-transparency-in-voluntary-carbon-market-301326442.html
(Updates with chart)
