Global Carbon Council (GCC) has successfully concluded its participation at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow earlier this month. GCC is MENA region’s first voluntary carbon offsetting program that is expected to issue more than 20 million carbon credits by 2022.
Representing GCC program’s senior leadership, a delegation from the program’s operations team joined the event with technical presentations, seminars and panel discussions about carbon offsetting and carbon finance among other topics addressing climate change.
Leading the team at the event was GCC Program’s President, Dr. Yousef Alhorr. Introducing the program to a multidisciplinary audience from international organizations attending COP26, Dr. Alhorr said, “In the beginning around 2016, the idea and purpose behind GCC’s inception was to assist MENA region through capacity building, developing project level MRV and bringing the ecosystem to MENA to operate carbon market instruments on ground. Now with CORSIA and ICROA accreditation of the GCC program, we have launched it globally. GCC program is rapidly growing and we aim to contribute at much higher scale by delivering high-quality and integrity projects in the coming years.”
At COP26, UNFCCC ActionHub highlights global initiatives that have made remarkable contribution through climate change mitigation initiatives. Among these select initiatives was GCC. The program was selected by UNFCCC to showcase its efforts in catalyzing sustainable development projects in MENA region.
As part of IETA BusinessHub, GCC’s operations team presented on the program’s upcoming innovative green finance initiative which is developed to support project owners in their endeavor to contribute to the efforts of GHG emissions reduction. GCC’s proposed finance facility, highlighted at IETA BusinessHub, can catalyze innovation in sustainable technologies.
Expanding the reach of the GCC program, its operations team also engaged in a panel discussion at the Turkey Pavilion where members discussed how the program is assisting international organizations to offset their unavoidable carbon emissions while also supporting the development of emission reduction projects and catalyzing climate actions.
At Qatar Pavilion, GCC representatives underscored ways in which the program can support Qatar National Climate Change Action Plan 2030 in meeting the nation’s target to reduce 25% greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
GCC program is an affiliate of the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD). It facilitates global stakeholders in implementing climate actions through a voluntary carbon offsetting program developed with overall purpose is to contribute to achieve Paris Agreement objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by developing relevant standards and framework and by providing price signal to the market to catalyze, enhance and leverage climate change mitigation finance globally and especially for MENA region, which has largely remained under-represented in using carbon market instruments to speed up climate actions. GCC credits will be used for offsetting host country emissions linked with Football World Cup Qatar 2022.
With more than 55 GHG reduction projects submitted so far, GCC program is expected to reach up to 120 projects in the first quarter of 2022. The existing projects submitted have a potential to generate more than 7 million carbon credits issuances per year. With GCC dealing in carbon offsets benefitting a wide range of GHG reduction projects, it is among eight international programs that are eligible to supply carbon credits to international airlines to meet their carbon neutral growth. In the Global South, GCC is the only international program fully approved by Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) of United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). GCC is also accredited by ICROA.
