Gold Standard, a verifier of carbon offsets, is temporarily pausing the issuance of credits from projects based in Zimbabwe, after the country’s announcement earlier this year that it plans to take half the revenue generated from such transactions.
The decision takes effect immediately, a spokesperson for Gold Standard said by email on Tuesday. Gold Standard has acted as a verifier for about 20 carbon offset projects in Zimbabwe.
“Following the announcement in May we have been engaging with the Government of Zimbabwe to clarify its implications, which led to our decision to pause issuance” in order to comply with national legislation, the Gold Standard spokesperson said.
The measure may serve as a warning shot to other African countries, such as Malawi and Zambia, that have, since the Zimbabwean decision was announced indicated that they may follow suit, further roiling the $2 billion carbon credits market.
Zimbabwe is Africa’s third-largest issuer of carbon offsets after Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jaye Connolly-LaBelle, chief executive of RippleNami Inc., a data collection company, said last week in a presentation at a conference in the country’s Victoria Falls resort. The southern African country accounts for 13% of the continent’s issuance and 1.7% of issuance globally, RippleNami said.
Michael Usi, Malawi’s environment minister, told Bloomberg at the conference that his country will take a yet to be determined chunk of revenue. Collins Nzovu, Zambia’s environment minister, said in an interview that “if we got 50%, we would be very happy, those are the figures we are looking at as well.”
A spokesperson for Gold Standard said at the time that governments seeking stronger oversight ought to act in a way “that will enable positive investment into climate action and sustainable development.”
Still, the world’s biggest verifier of carbon offsets, Verra, said by email that while it had halted registration of projects and issuance of credits after the initial announcement by the government it has since resumed those processes. Its projects in the country remain active, a spokesperson said in the email.
(Updates with Gold Standard comment in third paragraph.)
