NASSAU, Bahamas — Carbon Management Ltd., the company that was formed to manage the government’s blue carbon assets, has forecasted that The Bahamas could have nine million blue carbon credits available for trade by 2030, The Nassau Guardian reported on Monday, November 14, 2022 in an article written by Paige McCartney.
Carbon Management Director Anthony Ferguson said the company has also identified a new “natural asset” class that will enter the markets in the coming years.
Addressing the CARICOM Pavillion at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) on Friday, Ferguson said The Bahamas is poised to take advantage of these new opportunities, as it looks to offer the first blue bond offering in another year.
“As you know, ESG (environmental, social and governance) investments topped over $2 trillion last year. So, we believe that in several years you will have this new asset class called natural assets. Now within that natural assets class there will be allocations. In The Bahamas, we want to sell carbon certificates. Certificates include all of the additionalities of the biodiversity that we have. Liquidity is really driven by derivatives, so futures, options, warrants, those are the kinds of assets we are going to be looking to monetize. We are going to use the verified carbon units as a potential opportunity,” he said.
“The most immediate opportunity for us in The Bahamas is – you’ve heard some of the statement by the IMF [International Monetary Fund] – is a sovereign debt swap for our carbon assets. We would like to issue within the next 12 months a blue note or bond. Also, we have a very ambitious plan, by the end of 2024 we would like to have the first listing of a natural asset company on the New York Stock Exchange. That’s very exciting for us and we’re looking forward to doing that.
“Also, we believe that within the next 24 to 36 months, you will begin to see what we call natural asset ETFs (exchange-traded funds). Today you can have ETFs in currencies, in equities, fixed income, but we would like to create one of the first natural asset ETFs to come to the market. We have already launched a mutual fund, which should probably go to market by the December 1. This will be an ESG fund that ESG mandates can invest in.”
Carbon Management and the government will have to pivot from their initial plan of offering blue carbon credits to the market through now embattled crypto exchange FTX, which is currently in liquidation.
See complete article in The Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/carbon-management-estimates-nine-million-blue-carbon-credits-by-2030/
