NASSAU, Bahamas — The government believes it will be in the position to launch the first blue carbon credit from Bahamian sea grass before the end of 2022, and expects in the next few months to launch the country’s first carbon exchange through cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Senior Policy Advisor and Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit Jerome Fitzgerald said yesterday, The Nassau Guardian reported on June 1, in an article written by Paige McCartney.
During the “Blue Carbon: Charting the Path for Governance and Partnerships” event yesterday at the United Nations Ocean Conference 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal, Fitzgerald said in the next two to three months, scientists who have been mapping the country’s blue carbon assets will complete their research and present their findings to the Verification of Environmental Technologies for Agricultural Production (VERA) testing program.
“About nine months ago, Beneath the Waves came to the government of The Bahamas and began to share some of the science that they had uncovered, after spending ten-plus years in The Bahamas following and researching our shark population, particularly the tiger shark. They indicated to us that we had the largest seagrass bed in the world. Our prime minister at the time then made a decision that The Bahamas would lead the world in moving blue carbon forward, not only in regulating and putting in regimes to manage the blue carbon in our country, but also in ways to monetize it,” he told attendees at the conference.
Fitzgerald continued, “What is the way forward for us now? In the next two to three months, we expect to launch our carbon exchange. We are working now with FTX in order to finalize that exchange. Within the next two to three months, we expect Beneath the Waves to submit its scientific research, which will outline the extent of our seagrass meadows in The Bahamas. We are told that it is multiple times the size of the second largest sea grass meadow in the world.
“Thirdly, we will begin within the next two to three months, to present to VERA for verification the scientific findings that we have, and we expect by the end of this year we will be in a position to launch the first blue carbon credit from sea grass, that the world would see.”
Organized by the governments of Portugal and Kenya, the UN Ocean Conference brought world leaders and corporate entities together to deliver science-driven innovations and solutions to respond to the world’s environmental emergencies. It is considered to be the premier occasion for global leaders to network on advancements in environmental science.
The government is currently developing carbon credit secondary markets trading legislation with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, which Fitzgerald said is expected to be tabled and debated next month in Parliament alongside the recently tabled Climate Change and Carbon Market Initiatives Bill, 2022, which would entrench the legal regulatory framework for the trading of blue carbon credits in The Bahamas. See complete article in the Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/launch-of-bahamas-first-blue-carbon-credit-by-years-end/
