A couple of weeks ago Calyx Global hosted a conversation on the state of safeguards with Jacob Bourgeois from Volkswagen Climatepartner, Linda Rivera Macedo from Calyx Global, Jill Shankleman from JSL Consulting and Calyx Global co-founder Donna Lee. The discussion brought forth valuable insight from diverse expert perspectives. Some key takeaways are summarized below.

1. Safeguards have not received the attention they deserve in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), which is a result of the VCM being relatively nascent. The need to broaden and standardize safeguards requirements, particularly from carbon crediting programs, is beginning to emerge as a necessity for buyers and investors.
2. From the corporate perspective, safeguards play a crucial role in minimizing risks to reputation and ensuring the sustainability of carbon projects. Large carbon market players can play a pivotal role in influencing the inclusion and implementation of safeguards in carbon projects.
3. For project developers’ safeguards play a role in ensuring long-term security and value of their projects, but ultimately, carbon crediting programs are deemed the primary drivers for promoting and improving safeguards in both early-stage and ongoing projects.
4.  A risk-based approach is the best way to manage environmental and social risks. Essential project risk management tools and best practices for safeguarding carbon projects include understanding local risks through locally sourced inputs, foreseeing mitigation measures into project design, establishing and maintaining strong and long-term relationships with stakeholders, setting credible and transparent benefit-sharing arrangements, and adopting environmental and social monitoring frameworks.
5. For Calyx Global, safeguards are the third pillar of carbon credit quality. Its new ES Risk framework allows the screening of carbon projects (including early-stage projects) of environmental and social risks in 10 areas and 55 sub-areas of safeguards aligned with industry best practices.

We welcome further discussion on the topic of safeguards from experts and interested collaborators from across the carbon market. Reach out to us to be connected. To learn more about the role of safeguards in ensuring sustainable carbon projects for the people, places, developers and carbon credit buyers involved in projects, watch the “The 3rd pillar of carbon credit quality: safeguards” webinar on-demand.