This report is a reponse to feedback we received from our Transparency Initiative as a way to increase confidence and participation in carbon markets. It aims to improve access to market information for planning and decision-making.
If you have any comments or suggestions on how we can improve or evolve this report, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Gold Standard Market Report Q4 2016
The latest version of our Gold Standard Market Report has been released, providing issuance and retirement figures for Q4 2016.
This edition of the Market Report features a Q&A with Microsoft's Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability on their innovative climate strategy. By applying an effective internal price on carbon and financing community projects worldwide, Microsoft has operated at 100 percent carbon neutrality across all of its operations. Going forward, Microsoft looks to go beyond carbon by expanding its carbon offset programme to address broader sustainable development objectives.
To date, Gold Standard has 1400+ projects in its pipeline with a potential to save nearly 100 million tonnes of CO2 per year – which is roughly equivalent to mitigating one in every eight air travel flights that occurred worldwide in 2015.
Gold Standard Supply Report Q3 2016
The third iteration of our Gold Standard Supply Report has been released, providing the latest issuance and retirement figures for Q3 2016.
The feature article in this edition takes a look at what companies like Microsoft, Ben & Jerry's, Novartis and Disney are doing to set an internal price on carbon to reflect the social, environmental and economic costs of climate change. Doing so engenders many benefits, allowing companies to de-risk against future carbon pricing legislation while providing concrete answers for consumers and investors who are increasingly demanding ambitious climate action.
To date, Gold Standard projects have saved nearly 61 million tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere – the equivalent energy usage for more than 6.4 million average American homes per year.
Gold Standard Supply Report Q2
We've launched the second iteration of our Supply Report. Published quarterly, this report provides up-to-date data on our issuances and retirements for Q2 2016 to help build clarity around the complexities of the market.
The feature article in this edition, titled Why do prices vary by project explores the key factors that can cause carbon credits to vary in value across different project types.
To date, Gold Standard projects have saved nearly 59 million tonnes of CO2 from being released – the equivalent of driving around the world 5.7 million times in a car. We also saw an unexpected surge in issuances from cookstove projects this past quarter, with 90% of these credits coming from just three projects. And Eneco, Microsoft Corporation, Marks & Spencer, COOP, World Bank, Sustainable Brands Conference Istanbul 2016 and the new cool effects website all made retirements.
Gold Standard Supply Report Q1
This edition includes an article on carbon pricing, entitled ‘What is a carbon credit worth?’ and outlines some of the different ways organisations can value the worth of a carbon credit. It also includes some insights from COOP, one of Switzerland’s largest retail and wholesale companies, and what they are doing to ensure their long-term corporate success.
From a data perspective, the report provides our issuance and retirements figures for both 2015 and for Q1 2016, broken down by product, project type and by geography. Key observations include the number of the cookstove and water filter credits retired in 2015 were higher than those issued. And in Q1 2016 we retired the same amount of credits as we issued, providing a strong indication of the ongoing demand for Gold Standard credits.