The industrialisation of the late 19th century and the continued expansion of fossil-fuel-reliant industries throughout the 20th century have led to our growing awareness of its consequences and an urgency towards its regulation. Faced with the challenge of balancing industrial development with environmental sustainability, we collectively pursue advancing technologies and policies aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions, fostering innovation, and transitioning to renewable energy sources with carbon budgets, an integral part of the Paris Agreement, guiding our approach as the finite amount of carbon dioxide that can be released into the atmosphere while still limiting global warming to specific thresholds.
Carbon credits support this budget by providing organisations the opportunity to offset their emissions with credits generated by projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions; companies exceeding their allocated emission limits can purchase these credits to compensate for their excess emissions, effectively offsetting their carbon footprint.
From forestry projects that focus on tree planting and reforestation such as Oman’s Blue Carbon project, methane capture efforts that target this potent gas to reduce its emissions from landfills and agriculture, renewable energy projects such as the wind farm of Dhofar with its generation capacity of 50 MW, and also direct carbon capture, our local and global efforts towards achieving our carbon budgets and net zero goals continue to expand.
Projects such as Oman’s Blue Carbon project highlight the significant role carbon credits play in steps towards carbon neutrality. Aiming to transform Al-Sawadi Creek into an 88-hectare mangrove forest by planting 100 million mangrove trees along 20,000 hectares of coastline. This initiative targets a CO₂ reduction of 14 million metric tonnes in four years, aligning with Oman’s National Zero Carbon Strategy 2050, and potentially generating $150 million through carbon credits while reviving the endangered Avicennia marina species.
However, the carbon market faces challenges such as credibility and regulatory uncertainty. "Carbon credits undoubtedly play an increasingly large role on our path to worldwide decarbonisation," Fabian Mueller, Managing Director of Green Tech, explains; "however, there is currently no functioning international carbon exchange, and private markets are in disarray. It will take intense and disciplined collaboration from the international community to ensure that carbon trading projects and their platforms can effectively contribute to climate change mitigation.”
Despite the challenges faced by the carbon market, managing it remains critical to mitigating climate change, and, as the landscape evolves, the goal is to establish a more impactful and credible carbon market, contributing to a sustainable future, with international agreements and policies playing a crucial role in guiding and regulating efforts to manage and reduce carbon emissions globally.
Najah al Riyami
The author is a Media and Communication Master’s graduate skilled in diverse writing formats, specialising in storytelling, branding, and in-depth journalism
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