The voluntary carbon market is attracting increasing attention as a tool to help keep global warming below the 1.5-2°C targets. When it operates as intended, the market can help scale up flows of finance, technology and capacity to developing countries, and allow countries and companies to adopt more ambitious mitigation commitments. Success in this endeavor requires an approach that recognizes and balances the needs of all stakeholders involved in the market.

The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) Global Dialogue provides a platform for host countries’ governments, private sector and civil society representatives in the global south to formulate how to make the voluntary carbon market work on the ground. Over the course of 2021, Climate Focus has hosted the VCM Global Dialogue with the support of Verra and in partnership with Transforma (Colombia), SouthSouthNorth (South Africa), and the Indonesia Research Institute for Decarbonization (IRID). The VCM Global Dialogue aims to gather views and synthesize positions on how the voluntary carbon market can best contribute to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. The key question on the agenda: how can we design a system that supports national climate plans and local priorities, stimulates sustainable development, while unlocking greater levels of private investment?

In June and July 2021, the VCM Global Dialogue organized regional stakeholder consultations in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to create a space for exchanging views, experiences, and best practices between practitioners and experts. The findings of these conversations are currently being written up by a group of carbon market experts and practitioners in the form of five discussion papers on the perspectives of the different stakeholders as well as REDD+ and accounting. Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, the VCM Global Dialogue will present a set of recommendations on the future of the voluntary carbon market.

For more information, refer to the VCM Global Dialogue website, or get in touch with Lieke ‘t Gilde.