VCMs’ other fragmentation problem

The growing number of individual national carbon exchanges threatens to fragment much needed liquidity

In mid-October, I had the opportunity to attend and present at the biannual World Investment Forum (WIF), sponsored by the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The WIF’s goal is to spur more sustainable development investment in low- and middle-income economies. One of the prevailing themes at the event in Abu Dhabi was the energy transition and, given its timing and location, it offered a preview of some of the agenda of the COP28 Presidency. That agenda included full-throated support for voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), to lure capital towards the energy transition and to help countries meet decarbonisation commitments set out under their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). For