🗽 New York, New York

Hi there,

The climate world was abuzz. New York Climate Week finally arrived. Even if you were not in the city, your newsfeed was likely filled with webinars, announcements and pictures of activists on the city's streets. With so much to see and so much to do, it's hardly surprising if you have struggled to keep up. To help you out, here are some of our stand-out developments from New York.

• Jo Anderson and Marc Baker of Carbon Tanzania launched Level. Their new venture looks to define the social metrics of a biodiversity credit market. You can read about Level on LinkedIn or in Carbon Pulse. 
• Nature4Climate hosted speakers at its Nature Positive Hub, including our CEO Ana Haurie. From nature tech to the role of REDD+, the events have been great. If you missed out live, you can catch up on YouTube. 
• We also saw the launch of the first Global Stocktake. In an open letter, Nature4Climate calls for a course correct at COP28 - now is the time to properly embed nature as both a climate mitigation and adaptation strategy.
• TNFD published its final recommended disclosures. These are structured around governance, strategy, risk and impact management and metrics and targets.

And that's just four examples. Read on for more climate and nature news from across the voluntary carbon market.

Newsflash

• The Guardian has further criticised carbon crediting projects via a classification system created with non-profit watchdog, Corporate Accountability. This extremely unhelpful attack displays a clear anti-market agenda from the publication.
• Verra issued a strongly-worded response on its website, calling the Guardian's reporting on the voluntary carbon market, 'dangerously offtrack'.
• The classification system was built using data from AlliedOffsets. However, AlliedOffsets wrote on LinkedIn that it was not consulted during analysis process. However, it has reached out to Corporate Accountability and entities named in the report to encourage transparent conversation.
• Gold Standard also responded, highlighting limited evidence for the Guardian's claims of 'junk credits'. It intends to complain to the Guardian's Readers Editor.
• On LinkedIn, Rich Gilmore sets the record straight on the clean energy transition.
• Our CEO, Ana Haurie, has written a piece for Food Manufacture. She considers the rise of greenhushing among food corporations. 
• In other news, the STBi will split. The FT reports that it will become a UK company charging to examine corporate emissions targets. These profits will go to an umbrella-NGO that will use the revenue to set the standards for corporate targets. 
• Sandeep Roy Choudhury writes a ‘note’ to Global South governments, calling them to keep internal interests at the core of decision making and to ignore the ‘cacophony’ of carbon markets stakeholders.
• Reuters discusses Apple’s carbon neutral watches. They are manufactured using clean energy, flown less and much more. Any remaining emissions are counterbalanced with carbon credits, including nature-based from Restore Fund. Read the Impact Report here.

Don't miss this report

Nature as a critical climate solution: Busting the myths surrounding nature-based solutions

What's new? Nature4Climate is busting seven myths circulating about nature-based solutions and dispelling a further eleven specifically related to nature-based carbon credits. Here, we pull out a few examples of debunked misconceptions.

Doesn't funding for nature-based solutions have to come from government or philanthropy? No, private capital can also fund nature-based climate solutions. However, at present only 1 percent (US $2 billion) of total funding (US $154 billion) to NBS flows from carbon markets.

But there's not enough space for trees? Many say that there isn’t enough space to plant all the trees needed for climate mitigation. However, calculations suggest we could plant an extra 0.9 billion hectares of canopy cover. This many trees could store 205 giga tonnes of carbon!

Will regenerative agriculture really make a difference? Despite what detractors might say, yes it will. At least 23 percent of terrestrial land has reduced productivity due to land degradation and agricultural output is seriously threatened as pollinator populations decline. 

What else to expect? The report also tackles false binaries - such as nature or tech - media misconceptions, corporate claims and greenwashing. It also includes case studies of projects successfully working with IPLCs.

Because it is voluntary, will the VCM ever grow? Being voluntary has not held the VCM back so far. In 2021, it reached a value of $2 billion and is predicted to be worth up to $30 billion per year by 2030.

The report concludes by reminding business of their essential role in countering two of our greatest challenges: climate change and biodiversity loss. There is no time to delay investment to nature-based climate solutions.

One to watch

What happens when Mother Nature demands answers at an Apple sustainability meeting? The answer to the question you never thought to ask is now circulating online. In this great video, we see Apple highlighting its investments in nature-based climate solutions. If you haven't yet seen it, click to image below to watch.

Project news

Azaria Kilimba calls for greater accountability from the Global North

In a new piece in AllAfrica, Azaria Kilimba, Operations Manager at Carbon Tanzania, encourages the Global North to move beyond monetary compensation and take accountability for helping the Global South. “Can any amount of financial assistance really compensate for the damage inflicted upon people and nature in the Global South?” he asks. Instead, he calls on the Global North to support carbon markets and the nature-based projects delivering finance directly to the hands of local people, both in Tanzania and across the Global South. Azaria is clear: Only when people feel the financial benefit of a standing tree, will they have a real incentive to conserve it.

Burapha Agroforestry shares 2022 Impact report 

Our flagship portfolio project, Burapha Agroforestry, has released its 2022 Sustainability Report. The report highlights the company’s agreement with the Lao Government to plant 60,000 hectares of trees in production areas of Central Laos. You can learn more about Burapha Agroforestry here. 

Respira's News

Biomass in action: Why CEO Marco Albani founded Chloris Geospatial

In the first of our Tech in Action  series, we speak to Marco Albani, the Co-Founder and CEO of Chloris Geospatial. Established in 2021, the company is operating at the intersection of space-tech and nature-tech. Using advanced machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensor-fusion, the team at Chloris Geospatial can directly measure vegetation dynamics on earth...from space. Read the article here.

Dates for the diary

• Our Director of Business Development, Will Close-Brooks, will be joining a panel in Cambridge on 26th of September. Both in-person and online, the panelists will discuss the ways in which voluntary carbon markets can support ecosystem restoration in Europe. Register here.
• On the 26th and 27th of September, our CTO, Jon Mulder, will be at the London Climate Technology Show. If you would like to set up a meeting, please reach out to Jon either on LinkedIn or via our website.
• Sales Manager, Jake Goedhuis, will be at  Carbon Unbound Europe in London on the 3rd and 4th of October. As always, please get in touch if you would like to connect.

Enjoyed this newsletter? Follow Respira on LinkedIn to be notified of the latest editions and subscribe via our website to receive weekly updates straight to your inbox.

Respira International is an impact-driven carbon finance business. Respira’s high-quality carbon credits allow corporations and financial institutions to mitigate their environmental impact. Respira channels private capital into climate solutions ensuring long-term relationships with trusted carbon project developers that enable its clients to use predominantly nature-based solutions to build sustainable, climate-positive businesses and portfolios. Respira’s team combines deep and varied experience working in global financial markets with a robust understanding of carbon project development in leading international conservation organisations. Respira operates with an innovative offtake and profit share model which reinvests back into local communities.