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July 2021

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The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) today launched its Phase II Report (the Report), setting out an accelerated roadmap to a scaled, high-integrity voluntary market for the trading of carbon credits. The TSVCM is a private sector-led initiative working to scale an effective and efficient voluntary carbon market (VCM) to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The TSVCM was launched by Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate and Finance and former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank England and is chaired by Bill Winter, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered (read our earlier bulletins on the TSVCM here and here). Resilient LLP’s Lisa DeMarco is a member of the Legal principles and contracts Working Group of the TSVCM and Resilient LLP is a proud signatory of the TSVCM endorsement letter. This bulletin briefly summarizes the Report’s key points:   Objectives and focus of the TSVCM. The Report indicates that the TSVCM’s primary focus is to raise public awareness of the climate and co-benefits of VCMs and engage with stakeholders to drive both demand and supply in these markets.   Governance. The Report summarizes the Terms of Reference of the new umbrella governance body, which will have a mandate to (i) mitigate climate change and accelerate the transition to net zero; (ii) establish Core Carbon Principles (CCP) eligibility guidelines and additional attributes, an assessment framework for standard setters, and eligibility principles for suppliers and validation and verification bodies (VVBs); (iii) oversee standard setting organizations adherence to the CCPs; (iv) coordinate the work of, and manage interlinkages between, governance bodies; and (v) serve as a steward for the VCM. In addition, the TSVCM is seeking recommendations on the following five topics ahead of establishing the new umbrella body: • Modalities and procedures for the Board of Directors; • Transparency mechanism; • Grievance mechanism; • Transversal…

CIBC, IItaú Unibanco (the largest bank in Latin America), National Australia Bank (Australia’s largest business bank), and NatWest Group (a leading banking and financial services group in the UK and Ireland) today announced the launching of Project Carbon (the Project), a carbon offset platform which will seek to increase transparency in the voluntary carbon markets. The Project aims to provide carbon offsets to clients of the four banks with clear and consistent pricing and standards and aligns with the Mark Carney led Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) (read our earlier bulletins on the TSVCM here and here). Key features of the Project: Represents the book of record for ownership of carbon credits; Allows owners of credits to clearly demonstrate possession, reducing risks of double counting and simplifying reporting; Supports price discovery through the posting of executed trade sizes and prices to the market; Promotes project investment through the transparent demonstration of market demand; Provides full traceability and linkage back to source of the credit; Assists Registries by facilitating the rapid scaling of client base; Takes care of post trade settlement, allowing all market participants including exchanges and marketplaces to offer additional value added services;  Aligned with the objectives of the TSVCM;  Pilot built on a private Ethereum platform developed with ConsenSys.  The Project seeks to increase the delivery of high-quality carbon offset projects, facilitate a liquid carbon credit marketplace, create a strong ecosystem to support offset markets, and develop tools to help manage climate-related risks. The Project is launching as a pilot in August. Institutions interested in advancing the objectives of the of TSVCM are invited to join the Project. For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.

Nestlé recently issued an Emissions Reduction and Removal Request for Proposals (the RFP). Through the RFP, Nestlé is seeking to identify potential emissions reduction and removal projects within its value chains to support its goals of reducing GHG emissions by 20% by 2025, 50% by 2030, and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The RFP is meant to identify, validate, and build a carbon reduction and removal project portfolio aligned with Nestlé’s targets under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).   The RFP seeks proposals for the following two classes of projects:  Supply Chain Carbon Projects — on farms that produce commodities of relevance to Nestlé.  Landscape Projects — off-farms in the near vicinity of farms that directly supply Nestlé or supply markets from which Nestlé purchases. The RFP focuses on projects that are connected directly or indirectly to Nestlé value chains (dairy products, fresh milk, cocoa, coffee, vegetable fats and oils, meat, cereals and grains) and deliver impact at scale and/or innovative interventions that lead to scalable projects. Winrock International is assisting Nestlé with the RFP. Interested parties are encouraged to attend a webinar on the RFP on July 9th by emailing their interest to Winrock and must submit applications for the RFP by July 30, 2021. For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.