Smarter Carbon

Trends in Climate Finance (feat. Rich Gilmore)

Rich Gilmore is the CEO of Carbon Growth Partners--the world’s first investment manager in the ‘voluntary’ carbon market. From Australia, and having educational backgrounds from both the University of New South Wales and the Harvard Business School Online, he is now one of the market’s most successful, impactful and influential forces. Rich’s diverse background spans careers in the financial markets, climate change and conservation, community development, business and science.  As the Australia Country Director for The Nature Conservancy, he originated more than $100 million in natural capital impact investments. He is an Independent Director of Tiverton Agriculture Impact Fund, and a member of the SE Asia Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Tropical Forest Alliance. 📖 References and further background: 🪝https://www.linkedin.com/in/richgilmore/ 🎙️ About the podcast: The promise from the developed world to provide financing for the necessary energy transition and to deal with climate change’s impacts has not been met by the UN processes and direct aid. Instead, a combination of regulatory and voluntary carbon markets have emerged that are driving efficiency and funding to carbon avoiding and capturing projects around the world. The corporate sector has been a major leader in the creation of this market through their pledges to achieve carbon neutrality within far shorter timeframes than national pledges made at the UN conferences. The resulting maze of allowances and credits, Nationally Determined Contributions and Net Zero pledges, carbon taxes, emissions trading systems and carbon credits and offsets is now becoming more coherent and unified. It seems likely that a global price on carbon will emerge over the next 10 years that will drive that energy transition and contribute to living within our atmospheric limits and avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. Listen to this podcast hosted by Prof Charles E. Bedford from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Division of Environment and Sustainability to capture meaningful insights on governance, market structures and practical case studies, that help you unpack the essentials of the green economy. This audio podcast originated from a HKUST course of the same name (ENVR 6090D). To learn more about courses offered by HKUST – ENVR, visit https://envr.ust.hk/ 👨🏼‍🏫 About the host: Prof Charles E. Bedford focuses on conservation and climate finance at HKUST. He founded and serves as Chief Impact Officer at Carbon Growth Partners, the world’s first investment fund focused on the voluntary carbon market. He most recently served as The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Director delivering solutions on conservation finance, park and preserve declarations, climate change, fisheries and forest management. He’s led teams in the NGO sector around philanthropy, board management, and organisational development; helped to create new NGOs and philanthropic boards in China, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia, Myanmar and New Zealand. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/

The Sacred Cows of the Carbon Market (feat. Elias Ayrey)

In this episode, we invited Elias Ayrey, Ph.D. in Forest Resources (Remote Sensing), serial entrepreneur and carbon market opinion leader, to join the podcast to discuss some of the voluntary carbon markets most complex and confounding issues. We talk about Jurisdictional/Nested REDD projects, co-benefits, and additionality. Elias’ background is in forestry and technology. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maine and begun his career with carbon market pioneers, Pachama, where he helped build systems that use satellite imagery and LiDAR to predict forest carbon stock using modern artificial intelligence techniques. He hosts a popular YouTube channel that explains forestry and carbon markets in depth as well as reviews forest carbon projects and methodologies. He is now working on a start-up that will bring the latest remote sensing technologies to the evaluation and rating of forest carbon projects, with a goal of bringing more transparency and certainty into the carbon markets. 📖 References and further background: 🪝https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKp_aX5QcmeD-PiJk243qIw 🪝https://www.linkedin.com/in/elias-ayrey/ 🎙️ About the podcast: The promise from the developed world to provide financing for the necessary energy transition and to deal with climate change’s impacts has not been met by the UN processes and direct aid. Instead, a combination of regulatory and voluntary carbon markets have emerged that are driving efficiency and funding to carbon avoiding and capturing projects around the world. The corporate sector has been a major leader in the creation of this market through their pledges to achieve carbon neutrality within far shorter timeframes than national pledges made at the UN conferences. The resulting maze of allowances and credits, Nationally Determined Contributions and Net Zero pledges, carbon taxes, emissions trading systems and carbon credits and offsets is now becoming more coherent and unified. It seems likely that a global price on carbon will emerge over the next 10 years that will drive that energy transition and contribute to living within our atmospheric limits and avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. Listen to this podcast hosted by Prof Charles E. Bedford from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Division of Environment and Sustainability to capture meaningful insights on governance, market structures and practical case studies, that help you unpack the essentials of the green economy. This audio podcast originated from a HKUST course of the same name (ENVR 6090D). To learn more about courses offered by HKUST – ENVR, visit https://envr.ust.hk/ [https://envr.ust.hk/] 👨🏼‍🏫 About the host: Prof Charles E. Bedford focuses on conservation and climate finance at HKUST. He founded and serves as Chief Impact Officer at Carbon Growth Partners, the world’s first investment fund focused on the voluntary carbon market. He most recently served as The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Director delivering solutions on conservation finance, park and preserve declarations, climate change, fisheries and forest management. He’s led teams in the NGO sector around philanthropy, board management, and organisational development; helped to create new NGOs and philanthropic boards in China, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia, Myanmar and New Zealand. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/]

Future of the Carbon Market (feat. Rich Gilmore)

In this episode, we invited Rich Gilmore, the CEO of Carbon Growth Partners--the world’s first investment manager in the ‘voluntary’ carbon market. He is now one of the market’s most successful, impactful and influential forces. We talk about the future of the carbon market, removals versus reductions, the blockchain as a carbon market tool and a number of other topics. Rich’s diverse background spans careers in the financial markets, climate change and conservation, community development, business and science. As the Australia Country Director for The Nature Conservancy, he originated more than $100 million in natural capital impact investments. He is an Independent Director of Tiverton Agriculture Impact Fund, and a member of the SE Asia Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Tropical Forest Alliance. 📖 References and further background: 🪝https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-04-22/kim-stanley-robinson-let-the-fed-print-money-for-the-planet 🪝https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-coin-climate-change-crypto 🪝https://www.greenbiz.com/article/could-carbon-coin-solve-climate-crisis 🪝https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-13/how-web3-nfts-and-daos-could-help-climate-action?sref=F7hiECzo 🎙️ About the podcast: The promise from the developed world to provide financing for the necessary energy transition and to deal with climate change’s impacts has not been met by the UN processes and direct aid. Instead, a combination of regulatory and voluntary carbon markets have emerged that are driving efficiency and funding to carbon avoiding and capturing projects around the world. The corporate sector has been a major leader in the creation of this market through their pledges to achieve carbon neutrality within far shorter timeframes than national pledges made at the UN conferences. The resulting maze of allowances and credits, Nationally Determined Contributions and Net Zero pledges, carbon taxes, emissions trading systems and carbon credits and offsets is now becoming more coherent and unified. It seems likely that a global price on carbon will emerge over the next 10 years that will drive that energy transition and contribute to living within our atmospheric limits and avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. Listen to this podcast hosted by Prof Charles E. Bedford from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Division of Environment and Sustainability to capture meaningful insights on governance, market structures and practical case studies, that help you unpack the essentials of the green economy. This audio podcast originated from a HKUST course of the same name (ENVR 6090D). To learn more about courses offered by HKUST – ENVR, visit https://envr.ust.hk/ [https://envr.ust.hk/] 👨🏼‍🏫 About the host: Prof Charles E. Bedford focuses on conservation and climate finance at HKUST. He founded and serves as Chief Impact Officer at Carbon Growth Partners, the world’s first investment fund focused on the voluntary carbon market. He most recently served as The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Director delivering solutions on conservation finance, park and preserve declarations, climate change, fisheries and forest management. He’s led teams in the NGO sector around philanthropy, board management, and organisational development; helped to create new NGOs and philanthropic boards in China, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia, Myanmar and New Zealand. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/]

Restoration of the Indus River Delta (feat. Nadeem Khan)

In this episode, we have invited CEO Nadeem Khan to talk about the Pakistan mangrove restoration project, Indus Delta Blue Carbon and his fascinating journey from journalism to the corporate world to running the worlds biggest mangrove carbon project. The IDBC project covers 350,000 hectares just east of Karachi. It’s a public, private and community partnership at unprecedented scale—66,000 people live in or near the project, benefitting by new jobs, health care facilities and schools. We talk about his personal journey and commitment, IDBC’s plan for the future, and the changing carbon market. 📖 References and further background: 🪝https://deltabluecarbon.com/about-1/ 🪝https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadeem-k-5074884/ 🪝https://www.trafigura.com/sustainability/case-studies/delta-blue-carbon-the-world-s-largest-blue-carbon-project/ 🪝https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/04/can-blue-carbon-make-offsetting-work-these-pioneers-think-so 🪝https://deltabluecarbon.com/ 🎙️ About the podcast: The promise from the developed world to provide financing for the necessary energy transition and to deal with climate change’s impacts has not been met by the UN processes and direct aid. Instead, a combination of regulatory and voluntary carbon markets have emerged that are driving efficiency and funding to carbon avoiding and capturing projects around the world. The corporate sector has been a major leader in the creation of this market through their pledges to achieve carbon neutrality within far shorter timeframes than national pledges made at the UN conferences. The resulting maze of allowances and credits, Nationally Determined Contributions and Net Zero pledges, carbon taxes, emissions trading systems and carbon credits and offsets is now becoming more coherent and unified. It seems likely that a global price on carbon will emerge over the next 10 years that will drive that energy transition and contribute to living within our atmospheric limits and avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. Listen to this podcast hosted by Prof Charles E. Bedford from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Division of Environment and Sustainability to capture meaningful insights on governance, market structures and practical case studies, that help you unpack the essentials of the green economy. This audio podcast originated from a HKUST course of the same name (ENVR 6090D). To learn more about courses offered by HKUST – ENVR, visit https://envr.ust.hk/ [https://envr.ust.hk/] 👨🏼‍🏫 About the host: Prof Charles E. Bedford focuses on conservation and climate finance at HKUST. He founded and serves as Chief Impact Officer at Carbon Growth Partners, the world’s first investment fund focused on the voluntary carbon market. He most recently served as The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Director delivering solutions on conservation finance, park and preserve declarations, climate change, fisheries and forest management. He’s led teams in the NGO sector around philanthropy, board management, and organisational development; helped to create new NGOs and philanthropic boards in China, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia, Myanmar and New Zealand. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/]

Voluntary Carbon Market - The Timeline (feat. Rene Velasquez)

In this episode, we have invited Rene Velasquez to talk about the voluntary carbon market, it’s evolution and beginnings as well as the future. Rene is a carbon market veteran who began work on carbon as a law student at the University of Melbourne. He’s been at the leading edge of building a series of carbon market businesses, most recently acting as Head of Global Carbon for CBL Markets, which provides access to the world’s energy and environmental commodity markets, facilitating the secure and seamless trading of commodities like carbon, renewable energy, water, and gas. We talk about his personal journey and commitment, CBL’s plan for the future, and the projects in the carbon market that are making the most difference to people and climate. 📖 References and further background: 🪝https://xpansiv.com/ 🪝https://www.linkedin.com/in/renevelasquez/ 🪝https://ssir.org/articles/entry/how_carbon_offsetting_can_build_a_forest# 🪝https://vcmprimer.org/ 🪝https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/gabon-becomes-first-african-country-to-get-paid-for-protecting-its-forests/ 🪝https://www.environmental-finance.com/content/analysis/the-case-for-redd.html 🪝https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/blogs/energy-transition/011222-redd-carbon-credits-cop27 🪝https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/nature-more-than-carbon-sink/ 🎙️ About the podcast: The promise from the developed world to provide financing for the necessary energy transition and to deal with climate change’s impacts has not been met by the UN processes and direct aid. Instead, a combination of regulatory and voluntary carbon markets have emerged that are driving efficiency and funding to carbon avoiding and capturing projects around the world. The corporate sector has been a major leader in the creation of this market through their pledges to achieve carbon neutrality within far shorter timeframes than national pledges made at the UN conferences. The resulting maze of allowances and credits, Nationally Determined Contributions and Net Zero pledges, carbon taxes, emissions trading systems and carbon credits and offsets is now becoming more coherent and unified. It seems likely that a global price on carbon will emerge over the next 10 years that will drive that energy transition and contribute to living within our atmospheric limits and avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. Listen to this podcast hosted by Prof Charles E. Bedford from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Division of Environment and Sustainability to capture meaningful insights on governance, market structures and practical case studies, that help you unpack the essentials of the green economy. This audio podcast originated from a HKUST course of the same name (ENVR 6090D). To learn more about courses offered by HKUST – ENVR, visit https://envr.ust.hk/ [https://envr.ust.hk/] 👨🏼‍🏫 About the host: Prof Charles E. Bedford focuses on conservation and climate finance at HKUST. He founded and serves as Chief Impact Officer at Carbon Growth Partners, the world’s first investment fund focused on the voluntary carbon market. He most recently served as The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Director delivering solutions on conservation finance, park and preserve declarations, climate change, fisheries and forest management. He’s led teams in the NGO sector around philanthropy, board management, and organisational development; helped to create new NGOs and philanthropic boards in China, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia, Myanmar and New Zealand. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bedford-1116095/]