Global Carbon Council (GCC), an internationally recognised provider of high-integrity carbon credits, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) to promote regional climate actions and strengthen carbon markets regionally and globally. EGX was recently launched as Africa’s first regulated voluntary carbon market.
The agreement was signed by GCC Founding Chairman Dr Yousef Alhorr and EGX Executive Chairman Rami El-Dokany.
Low carbon future
As an outcome of this agreement, GCC-issued carbon credits will be listed on the EGX platform, thus expanding the marketplace’s offerings to buyers seeking a diversified portfolio of carbon credits. Meanwhile, EGX will leverage GCC’s international profile to advance the growth of the carbon market in Africa and subsequently raise awareness among regional stakeholders, including governments, businesses and investors, on the importance of using market instruments to catalyse climate actions.
Dr Yousef Alhorr said that the collaboration between carbon offsetting platforms and exchanges is vital to building a well-functioning marketplace to promote climate action and deliver highly integral mitigation outcomes. He said that by working in unison, these two mechanisms promote transparency, trust and growth for carbon markets. Ultimately, by doing so, they contribute to a more sustainable, low-carbon future.
We are positive that GCC’s collaboration with EGX will create a lasting impact that will undoubtedly encourage (the) decarbonisation of critical sectors by incentivising businesses to pursue carbon reduction projects.
EGX Executive Chairman Rami El-Dokany said they believe that a real impact will be achieved by a well-organised workflow between different stakeholders. He added that EGX’s collaboration with GCC will help in achieving global climate goals besides creating new business opportunities for the African continent through a transparent and fair ecosystem.
He said that this collaboration will increase the liquidity in the market and give investors access to high-quality carbon credits which they can use to offset their residual emissions and take their steps towards achieving net-zero goals.
Normalising carbon trading
Introduced as an outcome of COP27 and necessitated by the need to normalise carbon trading in Africa, the EGX carbon market provides Egyptian companies undertaking emissions-reducing projects with the opportunity to buy or sell carbon credits through a new local trading market instead of relying solely on foreign platforms. EGX offers a platform for trading these carbon credits to local and international buyers, thereby encouraging investment in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation projects.
GCC is an internationally recognised offset programme approved by the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) of the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The Council receives a wide range of GHG reduction projects implemented globally and has instituted robust approaches and procedures to safeguard the environmental integrity of the carbon credits sourced through environmental preservation and restoration projects.
With approximately 1,500 GHG mitigation project submissions from 40+ countries, the GCC programme facilitates global stakeholders in implementing climate actions, taking into account the carbon revenues to be accrued over their ten-year crediting periods. This goes a long way in contributing to achieving the Paris Agreement objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
The MoU between GCC and EGX marks a significant step towards strengthening the carbon market and improving the liquidity and accessibility of carbon credits through increased transparency and reliability.
As part of the agreement, the two entities will also collaborate on development initiatives to improve the efficacy of carbon offsetting mechanisms contributing to the global efforts to tackle climate change.
For more information about the Global Carbon Council, visit their website at globalcarboncouncil.com.
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