This is my first CMI Update after starting as CMI CEO in November. The month has gone by in a flash of activity with attendance at COP30 in Brazil, member and stakeholder meetings, and events including the Singapore Carbon Market & Investor Forum in October. As the year is coming to its conclusion CMI’s focus will be on planning for 2026, and on developing a new organisational strategy for 2026 and beyond. At our recent AGM, CMI Chair Dr Kerry Schott AO was re-elected so will be leading the board’s contribution to the strategy.
It has been a busy month with the coalition’s withdrawal of support for net zero, the passing of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the annual climate change statement in Parliament by Minister Bowen, and the release of the CCA’s annual report coupled with the release of the underlying data from the CER.
Post COP Symposium and reflections
CMI attended the COP30 climate negotiations in Belem, Brazil last month where we again hosted and spoke at a number of events. While overall this COP has garnered a mixed response and some criticism of a lack of progress and concrete outcomes like scalable finance for the Loss and Damage fund, it did present a chance to take stock 10 years after the Paris Agreement. Whilst the agreement is still intact despite global headwinds, progress is nowhere near fast and impactful enough. This COP also saw indigenous peoples, and community action and protests back in focus. Another growing theme was the interconnection between nature and biodiversity loss and climate change and the need to address both in an integrated way.
With the shift underway from creating the Paris rulebook to implementing it, there are interesting questions around what the shape and function of the COP should look like in future years including who needs to be at the table, from calls for the WTO to participate in trade-related discussions and greater engagement from business and civil society.
There are a number of new initiatives underway: roadmaps, dialogues, and high-level coalitions. COP31 will take place in Antalya, Türkiye under a co-presidency arrangement with Australia which is uniquely placed to shape further action and drive ambition over the next year.
For further information on CMI’s COP priorities and event recordings, access the COP Hub. https://carbonmarketinstitute.org/cop30hub/
The Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets
CMI has joined the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets as a partner which is being co-chaired by the governments of Kenya, Singapore and the UK, alongside the governments of France and Panama as founding members. Its aim is to mobilise private sector investment for high-integrity markets to unlock over USD$50 billion additional finance annually by 2030 – helping to close the USD$1.3 trillion finance gap for climate action.
We have had Singapore’s Ambassador for Climate Action, Ravi Menon speak at the CMI Singapore Carbon Market & Investor Forum in October where he invited the Australian Government to support the Coalition. For more information, access the Coalition’s webpage. https://coalitiontogrowcarbonmarkets.org/
Kind regards,
Dr Sasha Courville
CEO & Director, Carbon Market Institute
