There will be no greenwashing of The Bahamas’ blue carbon credits, which Attorney General Ryan Pinder said won’t be ready for monetization for about another 12 to 18 months.
Prime Minister Philip Davis on Wednesday tabled the Climate Change and Carbon Market Initiatives Bill, 2022, to establish the legislative framework required for The Bahamas to benefit from the trading of carbon credits.
The scientific research that would map out how much tons of carbon the Bahamian ecosystem absorbs will begin this year, which would put The Bahamas in the position to execute policies under the framework.
Further rules for blue carbon credits – which are being pioneered by The Bahamas under Special Environmental Advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Rochelle Newbold – are expected to be developed at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November to better flesh out the blue carbon space.
Pinder said The Bahamas has already been approached by entities regarding purchasing its blue carbon credits, and rather than accepting those offers without proper regulations – tantamount to greenwashing – Pinder said the government sought to ensure the proper international standards are set.
“We don’t have the regime in place, nor are we confident that we have done what we have to do to ensure The Bahamas maximizes its position. People will come out of the blue all the time and say I want to buy all the carbon credits you can create, and this is the price. Well the fact of the matter is our responsibility is to maximize the benefits for Bahamians. That is the position we have taken and anybody who approaches us, we will put them in a data bank as potential customers in the future when we are ready to monetize,” Pinder said during yesterday’s weekly OPM press briefing.
The rules surrounding trading in carbon credits, whether green carbon or blue carbon, are developed under the 2015 Paris agreement, in which more than 170 countries agreed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. It provides an international framework which verifies sovereign assets and translates how they can be monetized.
“It’s a highly technical, scientific exercise to be able to do proper mapping and evaluations and also to do proper verifications on how much they are actually absorbing in carbon, because it has to be based in science. This legislative regime is the first step to put that framework together, to be able to actively go and do the mapping research and verification and get the understanding in order to be able to advance the process,” Pinder said.
“With the specific question about how much can you actually monetize, clearly that is still unknown until you are able to properly map and know what the absorption rate and what the scientists and the verification companies are telling you what it is, and that is a continual process as we go. What I can tell you is The Bahamas in that exercise is going to look at every opportunity to maximize our benefit with respect to this program. We do think it is material enough to put in groundbreaking legislation that you won’t see anywhere else around the world and create a regulatory and scientific framework to advance the country in that regard.”
These carbon credits, Pinder explained, would be particularly beneficial to mega companies and countries that emit a high amount of greenhouse gases, but have made an obligation to become carbon neutral in the next ten to 30 years.
In the case of companies that cannot shut their businesses down or significantly reduce carbon emissions, purchasing blue carbon credits from countries like The Bahamas that are in a net negative position, can help them to meet their obligations.
“After you go through the science and the final rule making process on this and you get a dollar figure on your per ton of carbon that you are absorbing, that’s how they measure a credit. Then companies and other countries will come to either directly negotiate with the country or there may be a voluntary market where they are actively traded to purchase those credits,” Pinder said.
Companies like Microsoft have already purchased carbon credits because of their inability to reduce emissions.
Pinder also spoke to the impact entering the carbon credits market would have on developers looking to invest in The Bahamas. He said government policy would require a net positive position on future investments.
“You can’t just shut off investments in the country. What you can do is put in policies and frameworks so you are in a more positive position than when they came,” Pinder said.
He continued, “Think of it as a positive and a negative. There are ways to minimize your emissions. One is go in and put thresholds and standards and cause people to reduce their emissions. The other way is to enhance what you are sucking out of the atmosphere. So both of those we are looking at. I don’t think we’re going to see mandated emissions amongst businesses. What you may see is proactive efforts by the government in areas where we see that there may be carbon dioxide emissions, and take policy initiatives to reduce those. But we’re also going to take policy initiatives to increase elements of the carbon sink that will offset emissions as well.
“One thing I have spoken about, is when we have foreign direct investment, which we have a lot of, and developers want to scar the land or do something that may affect the carbon emissions balance country, we cause them to plant additional mangroves or do additional remediation efforts to offset their damage, plus more. We call it a net zero effect. So we would look to anyone coming to do business in The Bahamas to appreciate a net zero affect. So they would have to factor into their budgets some sort of a remediation efforts on one side if they are scarring or doing some negative carbon emissions on the other side.”
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