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A Race We Can Win

While the summer wound down, IETA’s regional conference season swiftly wound up. The end of August saw over 5,000 people congregated in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil for Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW). This week will see another 3,000 people gather in Bangkok, Thailand for our Asia-Pacific Climate Week (APCW). Later in the month, the full attention of our community will shift to New York City for the UN Secretary General Climate Action Summit and Climate Week. Like previous years, IETA’s flagship North America regional conference, Carbon Forum North America (CFNA), will occur during the action-packed Week and during the two days (24-25 September) following the official UN Summit.

The Summit’s slogan is “A Race We Can Win” in an attempt to inspire leaders across governments, business, civil society and other international organisations to develop and showcase climate ambition solutions in six areas: energy transition; industry transition; nature-based solutions; infrastructure and cities; resilience and adaptation; and carbon pricing and climate finance. Another regular Summit theme and catchphrase is “Business is on our side”, recognising that meaningful business engagement and market solutions are vital ingredients to mobilise the trillions required to meet ambition targets and drive long-term sustainable transformation across sectors and borders.

For business, the ability to scale up climate ambition is deeply dependent on the availability of market flexibilities. The two topics are intertwined; without well-designed carbon markets across sub-national, national, regional and international levels, we simply cannot get to where we need to go to achieve a 2°C world (let alone a 1.5°C world).

IETA’s powerful message – the “Power of Markets to Enhance Ambition” – will be delivered loud and clear in the Big Apple. With the support of fellow travelers from governments, NGOs, academia and beyond, this theme will underpin all of our activities and communications throughout the week. At CFNA 2019, we’ll support this by showcasing:

• Carbon Pricing Leaders’ Circle, with global Ministers and Chief Climate Regulators;
• CEO Business-NGO Dialogue, exploring the power of collaboration, communications and markets;
• International Article 6 Analysis: Modeling cost savings and mitigation of “cooperation”, and
• Role and impact of Natural Climate Solutions: Forestry, Smart Agriculture and Markets

As always, CFNA will stay true to its regional brand by delving into the latest experiences and the surge of carbon policy, market and finance developments across Canada, the United States and Mexico. A selection of regional highlights that we’ll highlight includes:

• North America Analysts’ Roundtable: RGGI+ and WCI activity, products and pricing forecasts;
• Power Sector, Carbon and Interconnections: Sector Insights from RGGI+ and Beyond;
• Transport Sector – Complementary Mechanism Interplay: Unique Realities, Costs, and Solutions;
• US-Northeast Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) Policy Momentum & Outlooks, and
• Canada’s Shifting (and Shifting Again) Carbon Policy and Political Landscape

• 2-6 September: IETA will be at the Asia Pacific Climate Week in Bangkok
• 24-25 September: Several of IETA's team will be attending Carbon Forum North America in New York
• 16-18 October: Julia Michalak and Simon Henry will be participating in Carbon Forward in London - mention their names for a discount when booking
• 21-22 October: Catch up with Julia Michalak at the BNEF Summit 2019 in London
• 22-24 October: See Katie Sullivan and Clayton Munnings at Argus Biofuels and Carbon Markets Summit in Napa Valley, California
• 28-30 October: Meet Katie Sullivan at the SPARK-Carbon+ 2019 Conference, hosted by Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) in Edmonton

IETA Member's Corner

How is South Pole involved in the carbon market?

Climate change today is one of the biggest global challenges - but solving climate change is one of the biggest business opportunities. Over 13 years South Pole has become one of the leading developers of international emissions reductions projects, running more than 700 projects across 40 countries. Through our projects we have saved hundreds of millions of tons of CO2, and our projects have transformed entire industries. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created, and billions of dollars of investments in clean technologies and sustainable projects have been unlocked. But this is just the beginning. Through the Paris Agreement, while each country follows a somewhat different approach, reducing CO2 will globally become increasingly attractive. We are committed to put our skills and expertise to work to contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy and to reach the 1.5 degree target. You can find out more about our projects here.

Why did you join IETA?

We have ten years to turn things around – achieving ambitious climate goals at the speed and scale that is required will not be possible unless we channel the power of markets towards the low-carbon transition. And to do this, we need strong collaboration across sectors and geographies. Being a proud member of IETA opens up more opportunities for us to take part in the conversations that matter and to connect with like-minded change-makers. For nearly two decades IETA has now been the key champion to advocate for carbon pricing and market-based instruments, and South Pole is fully committed to support IETA’s mission wherever we can.

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