Qatar-based Global Carbon Council (GCC) has recently received full approval from the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organisations’ (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
Being host of the GCC, an initiative by the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development and the first and only global voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) offsetting programme of the Mena region, Qatar can be proud of this achievement, which is part of its long march in efforts to realise the most relevant dream of the world, a carbon neutral universe.
With expectation to issue more than 10 million carbon credits in 2021, GCC is listed among eight international programmes that are eligible to supply carbon credits to international airlines to meet their carbon neutral growth.
For the past few decades, experts after experts have been warning the world about the rising threat of a catastrophic climate change brought about by the rapid industrial development in every corners of the world.
The world under the leadership of the United Nations has already taken several steps to reach a carbon neutral environment, though not a fraction of it has been realised yet. Carbon credit is just one building block of this process. A carbon credit is a permit which allows the company which holds it emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other GHGs.
Polluting companies are awarded credits that allow them to continue to pollute up to a certain limit, which is reduced periodically. The company is free to sell any unneeded credits to another company that needs them and earn some money, which will act as an incentive to the pollution companies. As the limit will be reduced periodically, over time the polluting companies will reach a level where they cannot emit any more GHGs.
Qatar has been wise enough to foresee the damaging effect of climate change that the country has been at the forefront in the fight against environmental pollution. Doha played host to the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in December 2012 which paved the way for all the countries to pledge their commitment to realise a carbon neutral world. On December 8, the Doha Amendment was agreed upon and by 28 October 2020, 147 countries signed their instrument of acceptance ratifying the Doha Amendment. In the meantime, over 190 nations signed on to the Paris Agreement of 2015 which set emission standards and allows for emissions trading.
UN Secretary-General, in article published by The Peninsula yesterday, made a passionate appeal to every nation play their role in reaching the target of zero emission of GHG by mid-century.
