By Erik Stadigh
The criticism of carbon credits is relentless. The voluntary carbon market is like the Wild West. Plagued with carbon cowboys trying to pocket a quick buck rather than build impactful projects. Consequently, companies fear they’ll be plastered across the internet, accused of accidental greenwashing if they even mention offsetting in their sustainability report.
Yet, when done correctly carbon credits are the single best mechanism to protect nature, restore biodiversity, and propel reforestation. There is a backlog of scientific evidence to support this. These credits are key to building a climate positive future. A future where every product or service consumed makes the world better, more alive, and thriving than it was before.
Today, I want to tell you a true story. A story that reminds us why we need carbon credits to hold the world together, while climate change pushes it apart. And it starts in the ocean.
A delivery across tides
On October 28th, 2024, somewhere along the Atlantic coast, the Maribo Maersk container ship chugs around the Cape of Good Hope. Carrying approximately 8,000 of both 20” and 40” containers, this metal structure was built to travel long distances, endure the cold whip of unforgiving seas, and deliver cargo from one corner of the planet to another.
Today, the weather is calm. A south-easterly wind pushes small waves to lap at its bloated hull. Sun rays outline the rippling groove of the containers. The sight is a marvel of human engineering.
One of the 40” containers is packed with a TRUMPF Industrial Laser Cutting System being exported from Germany to China. A piece of advanced manufacturing equipment essential for high-precision, efficient, and automated metal cutting. Packed tightly amongst its peers, the container is full to the brim to ensure this trip is worth its while. Not only for Maersk or the exporting company, but for the planet too.
The vessel will travel from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. Crossing seas, skirting around continents, and finally coming to rest in Shanghai.
When Maribo Maersk arrived in Shanghai on November 17th, 2024, the 20t cargo will have travelled 25,950 km and added 1.5 tonnes of CO2e into the atmosphere. The climate impact of this particular shipment, along with millions of others, was automatically measured using Lune’s industry-leading, audited, and certified methodology.
It’s a great journey that many of us take for granted. These trade routes make the world feel much closer together. But the reality is climate change, driven by the release of greenhouse gases, is ripping regions apart.
Climate change is not felt equally. The global north is responsible for 92% of emissions, yet the global south will suffer $192 trillion in climate losses. The question is not only how do we reverse our wrongs, but also who will pay for the irreversible damage?
So while our story would have traditionally finished with delivery being signed as received and emissions expelled, this time it doesn’t. This time the shipment has one more delivery to make. A delivery of carbon credits.
A delivery across rainforests
This shipment cost the planet 1.5 tCO2e. When the manufacturer scheduled the shipment, they offset unavoidable emissions by funding high quality climate projects via their freight forwarding platform. Incurring an additional monetary cost of 70.50 USD.
It took a single click to purchase these credits. Lune has made this an easy, quick, and frictionless process. But the impact will be felt by many for decades.
Minus Lune’s 10% fee, this climate finance now enters the capital flow our world desperately needs to mitigate and recover from climate disruption. It’s estimated we’re $2trn short of climate finance. So every cent counts.
In this tale, the finance is destined for a project known as Delta Blue Carbon. Nestled on the coast of the Indus Delta region in the Sindh province of Pakistan, the project restores one of our biggest allies in the fight against climate change — mangroves.
Pakistan is a country ravaged by climate change. Despite it making up <1% of global emissions, flooding alone in 2022 cost them almost $30bn — approximately 8% of its GDP (gross domestic product) at the time. For a developing country where 39% of the population is living in poverty, all those funds are needed elsewhere.
Climate change is not fair. This is why we need to rewire the climate loop by funding projects that address climate change, biodiversity loss, and humanitarian crises. Projects like Delta Blue Carbon.
Delta Blue Carbon operates in the Sindh province of Pakistan. A province home to a myriad of cultures and history. Forgotten mosques border dusty roads that cut through an arid landscape, while the river is fringed by thick black mud.
Mud that’s rich in carbon, thanks to a historical population of mangroves. These ancient trees first appeared in the Late Cretaceous period, and have been sequestering carbon ever since. Their dense, web-like roots entrap sediments dancing through the Indus’ murky waters, and the low oxygen conditions of their waterlogged soils slow the decomposition of organic material.
Not only do these properties mean that mangroves sequester CO2 from the atmosphere 4x faster than rainforests, but they also make mangroves coastal defenders. Blocking storm surges as they charge against the shore, they are an ally to a water-ravaged Pakistan.
However, a dwindling freshwater supply, excessive grazing, and wood exploitation have pillaged the population of mangroves standing guard along the Indus River Delta.
Until now.
Over 10,000 people are now tasked with the restoration of these mangroves — a thousand of which are women. The carbon credits purchased via the shipment provide them with a stable income. Many now go about their day collecting biological data, tending to saplings, and impeding illegal poaching.
Six large water osmosis tanks also stand tall amongst the communities. Reliable, clean, and safe drinking water flows into over 60 villages. Over 49,000 of its residents now have access to healthcare. All are funded by the sale of carbon credits.
The project benefits overspill into a recovering ecosystem. Along the winding river, grey humps mounted with a curved dorsal fin arch out of the water. A sign of healthy population growth amongst the endangered Indian Ocean humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea). Just one of the species the shipment is helping to save.
Then finally, restored mangroves will go on to remove 120 million tCO2e from our choking atmosphere. The Delta Blue Carbon project addresses 12 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). But these benefits are not captured by the term “carbon credit”.
A carbon story without an end
Carbon credits face so much criticism. However, when done correctly they are the single best mechanism to protect and restore nature, biodiversity loss, and humanitarian crises. In a world where climate impacts are driving regions apart, carbon credits can knit communities, ecosystems, and economies back together.
They are the connection between a shipment travelling down the Atlantic and across the Indian Ocean and a community living on the Pakistan coast. A tie that does not naturally exist — but could.
To release these streams of climate finance companies need clarity. It must be clear funding high quality climate projects is foundational to a resilient business strategy, and identifying these projects must be straightforward.
That is how we will build a climate positive future.
