Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Sliced: ABACUS - Verra’s New High-Quality Label

In this edition of Sliced, we introduce Verra's new label for its Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR) methodology, VM0047. We raise some key points about how this new label might impact the carbon market.

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Sliced is a weekly short-form dispatch released every Tuesday that features original thought pieces from our team members with the goal of slicing apart the various complex aspects of climate finance. 

If you want to check out the written version of Sliced, click here. And if you want to receive Sliced to your inbox, click ⁠here⁠. 

Sliced is produced by ⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠. It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠Jay Tipton⁠. Visit us at www.gordianknotstrategies.com. 

Music is by ⁠Coma-Media.

In this episode, Jay and Sean Penrith (CEO, Gordian Knot Strategies) dive into GKS’s key focus areas, including climate finance, carbon markets, and impact investing.

They explore the current state of climate finance dedicated to mitigation and adaptation efforts, discuss how far the world is from meeting global climate finance targets, the obstacles in our way, and what is needed to achieve these financial goals. They cover carbon markets, both voluntary and compliance, around the world. Sean and Jay detail the challenges these markets face and highlight the positive developments over the past year. Sean explains impact investing and its role in achieving global climate goals, what’s driving growth in the field, the barriers to scaling up impact investing, and what’s needed to accelerate these efforts. Sean also offers insights into the emerging field of biodiversity crediting and shares valuable advice for those interested in this growing area.

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About:

⁠Untangling Climate Finance⁠ explores the dynamic field of climate change finance through conversations with industry experts about topics including climate solutions, global carbon markets, carbon projects, novel technologies such as AI and distributed ledger, and much more.

If you have any questions, comments, a future guest recommendation, or are interested in joining Jay for an episode, please shoot him a message at: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Credits:

The podcast is produced by ⁠⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠⁠.

It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠⁠Jay Tipton⁠⁠.

Special thanks to ⁠Sean Penrith⁠, Jacoba Gundle, Maggie Tipton, and Julie Witherspoon. 

Music is by ⁠⁠Diamond_Tunes⁠. 

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Sliced: Peatlands in Carbon Markets

In this edition of Sliced, we highlight peatlands as an important global ecosystem with significant potential for climate change mitigation and climate finance. Despite their massive potential, peatlands have received very little attention in carbon markets.

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Sliced is a weekly short-form dispatch released every Tuesday that features original thought pieces from our team members with the goal of slicing apart the various complex aspects of climate finance. 

If you want to check out the written version of Sliced, click here. And if you want to receive Sliced to your inbox, click ⁠here⁠. 

Sliced is produced by ⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠. It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠Jay Tipton⁠. Visit us at www.gordianknotstrategies.com. 

Music is by ⁠Coma-Media.

In this episode, Jay connects with Henry Rowlands, the Co-Founder, CEO, and Director of Soil in Formation (SIF), a U.S. public benefit corporation dedicated to restoring soil health worldwide through advanced soil health measurement technology and a contextual data platform.

Henry shares his extensive background in agriculture and soil management. He emphasizes agriculture's critical role globally. He discusses his journey to co-founding SIF and the company’s core objectives. The conversation moves into the challenges SIF aims to address with its remote soil sensor and actionable soil health metrics database. Jay and Henry also explore SIF’s efforts to integrate their technology into agriculture and soil carbon credit methodologies under the major carbon credit standards. Henry outlines the future of SIF, detailing plans for the technology and database release.

Resources:

• Website: Soil in Formation

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About:

⁠Untangling Climate Finance⁠ explores the dynamic field of climate change finance through conversations with industry experts about topics including climate solutions, global carbon markets, carbon projects, novel technologies such as AI and distributed ledger, and much more.

If you have any questions, comments, a future guest recommendation, or are interested in joining Jay for an episode, please shoot him a message at: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Credits:

The podcast is produced by ⁠⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠⁠.

It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠⁠Jay Tipton⁠⁠.

Special thanks to ⁠Sean Penrith⁠, Jacoba Gundle, Maggie Tipton, and Julie Witherspoon. 

Music is by ⁠⁠Diamond_Tunes⁠. 

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Sliced: Witnessing Progress in the Voluntary Carbon Market

In this edition of Sliced, on the heels of the United States Federal Government’s release of its “Principles for High-Integrity Voluntary Carbon Markets,” we point out the progress that has been achieved over the past twelve months in improving the quality of the VCM and explain why a healthy VCM is important. 

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Sliced is a weekly short-form dispatch released every Tuesday that features original thought pieces from our team members with the goal of slicing apart the various complex aspects of climate finance. 

If you want to check out the written version of Sliced, click here. And if you want to receive Sliced to your inbox, click ⁠here⁠. 

Sliced is produced by ⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠. It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠Jay Tipton⁠. Visit us at www.gordianknotstrategies.com. 

Music is by ⁠Coma-Media.

In this episode, Jay covers environmental policy with Timothy Male, the Executive Director of the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC). 

Tim outlines EPIC’s mission and its impact on U.S. environmental policies, focusing on initiatives like environmental restoration. They explore challenges in conservation efforts, especially the long permitting times which can get projects in limbo for years and years.

The conversation covers innovative financial mechanisms like debt-for-nature swaps and state revolving loan funds. Tim advocates for significantly increasing this funding and discusses pay-for-success contracts as a scalable policy tool for nature-based climate finance. He also highlights the value in public-private partnerships for finance. 

Tim concludes with his vision for the future for the policy ecosystem in the US, stressing the need to improve how policy narratives can drive financial resources toward enhancing our relationship with nature. 

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About:

⁠Untangling Climate Finance⁠ explores the dynamic field of climate change finance through conversations with industry experts about topics including climate solutions, global carbon markets, carbon projects, novel technologies such as AI and distributed ledger, and much more.

If you have any questions, comments, a future guest recommendation, or are interested in joining Jay for an episode, please shoot him a message at: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Credits:

The podcast is produced by ⁠⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠⁠.

It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠⁠Jay Tipton⁠⁠.

Special thanks to ⁠Sean Penrith⁠, Jacoba Gundle, Maggie Tipton, and Julie Witherspoon. 

Music is by ⁠⁠Diamond_Tunes⁠. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2024

Sliced: Transparency in the Voluntary Carbon Market

In this edition of Sliced, we focus on a key voluntary carbon market topic - transparency. We highlight the challenges around transparency, as well as the initiatives from market actors working to improve it and improve the integrity of the VCM. 

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Sliced is a weekly short-form dispatch released every Tuesday that features original thought pieces from our team members with the goal of slicing apart the various complex aspects of climate finance. 

If you want to check out the written version of Sliced, click here. And if you want to receive Sliced to your inbox, click ⁠here⁠. 

Sliced is produced by ⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠. It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠Jay Tipton⁠. Visit us at www.gordianknotstrategies.com. 

Music is by ⁠Coma-Media.

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Sliced: Let's Not Forget About Article 9

In this edition of Sliced, we shed some light on an often less discussed part of the Paris Agreement, Article 9 and how this key Article impacts climate finance flows from developed to developing nations. 

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Sliced is a weekly short-form dispatch released every Tuesday that features original thought pieces from our team members with the goal of slicing apart the various complex aspects of climate finance. 

If you want to check out the written version of Sliced, click here. And if you want to receive Sliced to your inbox, click ⁠here⁠. 

Sliced is produced by ⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠. It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠Jay Tipton⁠. Visit us at www.gordianknotstrategies.com. 

Music is by ⁠Coma-Media.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Sliced: Swapping Debt for Nature

In this edition of Sliced, we talk about how debt-for-nature swaps are a climate finance tool that offers many potential advantages and how a new report shows that developing countries could benefit in a big way by this type of financial deal. 

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Sliced is a weekly short-form dispatch released every Tuesday that features original thought pieces from our team members with the goal of slicing apart the various complex aspects of climate finance. 

If you want to check out the written version of Sliced, click here. And if you want to receive Sliced to your inbox, click ⁠here⁠. 

Sliced is produced by ⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠. It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠Jay Tipton⁠. Visit us at www.gordianknotstrategies.com. 

Music is by ⁠Coma-Media.

In this episode, ⁠Jay⁠ connects with ⁠Max DuBuisson, the Vice President of Sustainability, Policy & Engagement at Indigo Ag, an ag-tech company based in Boston.

Max gives an overview of Indigo Ag's role in sustainable agriculture and discusses their carbon credit project which involves about 1,000 American farmers managing over 7 million acres across 30 states. He explains the project’s enrollment process, the changes in farming practices, and how these efforts are quantified and certified by methodologies from Verra and the Climate Action Reserve. 

Max outlines the financial benefits for participating farmers, with a focus on profit sharing where farmers have earned over $12 million from the program. They discuss Indigo Ag's technological approaches and strategic partnerships aimed at enhancing sustainable practices globally.

Show Resources:

• Indigo Ag
• Carbon for Farmers
• Indigo Ag Announces Record-Setting Third Carbon Crop

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About:

⁠Untangling Climate Finance⁠ explores the dynamic field of climate change finance through conversations with industry experts about topics including climate solutions, global carbon markets, carbon projects, novel technologies such as AI and distributed ledger, and much more.

If you have any questions, comments, a future guest recommendation, or are interested in joining Jay for an episode, please shoot him a message at: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Credits:

The podcast is produced by ⁠⁠Gordian Knot Strategies⁠⁠.

It is written, narrated, and edited by ⁠⁠Jay Tipton⁠⁠.

Special thanks to ⁠Sean Penrith⁠, Jacoba Gundle, Maggie Tipton, and Julie Witherspoon. 

Music is by ⁠⁠Diamond_Tunes⁠.