Civil engineer and geo-hydrologist Delton Chen discusses the Global Carbon Reward policy, incentivizing emission reduction and investment in mitigation tech. They explore challenges in carbon removal, renewable energy transition, and leadership's role in prioritizing the planet over profits. The concept of a transparent carbon market system is highlighted, emphasizing the need for innovative solutions and global cooperation.
Market-based solutions for climate need supportive policy to avoid exploitation.
Global Carbon Reward policy incentivizes emissions reduction and invests in mitigation technologies.
Focus on maximizing conventional mitigation before implementing carbon dioxide removal technologies for effective climate solutions.
Deep dives
Revitalizing the Living Carbon Cycle
Prioritizing the regeneration of the biosphere and communities is vital for maintaining stable ecosystems and avoiding carbon destabilization. By broadening the perspective to include the whole carbon cycle, including living components, new solutions to combat climate change emerge.
The Global Carbon Reward Policy
The Global Carbon Reward policy, introduced by Dalton Chen, offers financial incentives to polluting industries to reduce carbon emissions. It aims to promote investment in mitigation technologies and transition to a photosynthesis-based economy for planetary well-being.
The Challenge of Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies
The policy focuses on maximizing conventional mitigation efforts to reduce emissions rapidly before implementing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. By providing a long-term financial incentive and mobilizing private sector investments in research and development, the hope is to accelerate the development of effective CDR solutions.
Systemic Control System Towards Sustainability
The Global Carbon Reward policy acts as a control system to regulate energy and resource flows in civilization. By incentivizing decarbonization and investment in renewables, it aims to stabilize energy prices, crowding out fossil fuel demand. The policy seeks to ease financial burdens on developing nations by offering hard currency incentives tied to renewable energy investments, fostering a transition towards sustainability.
Buying Out Coal-Fired Power Plants and Coal Suppliers to Break the Cycle
One solution discussed in the podcast involves buying out coal-fired power plants and coal suppliers to retire them early. By using carbon currency, these assets can be retired ahead of schedule with the payout being used to invest in renewable energy infrastructure. This approach aims to prevent the buildup of stranded assets and encourages transition towards sustainable energy sources.
Challenges in Carbon Markets and Ensuring Accountability
The podcast highlights challenges in carbon markets, such as issues with false data reporting and lack of real carbon sequestration verification. Unlike traditional carbon credit systems prone to corruption and greenwashing, the Global Carbon Reward system is designed for long-term accountability. Through contracts with a UN body, projects are monitored regularly with consequences for non-compliance, ensuring genuine carbon reductions and avoiding scams.
Not without supportive policy. Market-based solutions do not have a good track record when it comes to climate, stuck as they are within an exploitative economic framework. But, equally, we cannot just do away with markets, which have existed for millennia in many different forms. They need revolutionised, not abandoned.
Civil engineer and geo-hydrologist Delton Chen joins me to discuss the Global Carbon Reward, a policy for managing climate-related risk. Described as a “carrot policy”, Delton says the GCR incentivises polluting industries to reduce their emissions whilst encouraging the private market to invest in research and development of mitigation technologies. This conversation is filled with nuance, technicality, analysis and discussion on the viability of market-based solutions in a market that drives perverse incentives.
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