Greetings NCEC members, 

The NCEC website has been updated and is linked HERE! Please reply to this email if you would like to link your member profile to a specific website within your organization.

Our monthly feature for December is Generate Zero. Please see the attachment for an NCEC interview with Caroline Knowles, Chief Customer Officer, Generate Zero.

Updates for this month:  

• New competition pushes companies to invest in carbon removal: XPrize and ClimeFi have announced a new ‘leaderboard’ to recognize achievements in durable carbon removal.

• U.S. National Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Research Strategy Report published from the subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology National Science and Technology Council.

• Capturing carbon from the air just got easier: A new type of porous material called a covalent organic framework quickly sucks up carbon dioxide from ambient air.

• Fair Carbon webinar on “What solutions exist for MRV in Blue Carbon projects?” The webinar will take place on December 12th at 8:00 am EST / 14:00 pm CET. Please register for the event here and mark your calendars!  

• Coalition on Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Incentives Including Subsidies - The UK, Colombia and New Zealand have signed on to a coalition of governments aiming to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, joining 13 other mainly European nations in the alliance. Coalition members are required to publish country inventories and phase out plans. Read more HERE.

• New UN initiative aims to counter climate disinformation.

• Council greenlights voluntary EU certification framework for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products.

• The USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability has received $4 million gift to launch new climate and carbon management initiative.

• Climate and Earth scientists on University of Exeter’s official offsetting panel advise Exeter to ditch carbon offsets and focus on cutting emissions.

Reminders:

• The NCEC LinkedIn has also launched! Please follow along and invite your colleagues to follow along as well!

• NCEC 2025 Annual Meeting Save the Date: June 29th- July 1st hosted at the University of Exeter.  

Read further for our COP outcomes:

• New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) – Parties agreed to a new climate finance goal for developing countries of USD 300 billion annually by 2035. While this is an increase from the previous goal of USD 100 billion annually, it has been criticized by developing countries, advocacy groups and others for being insufficient. F Parties also agreed to mobilize a total of USD 1.3 trillion per year from public and private sources by 2035, including the USD 300 billion allocation and agreed to launch a "Baku to Belém Roadmap" for COP30 on how to mobilize the additional trillion.

• Rules for Carbon Markets (Article 6) – After almost ten years of negotiations, parties agreed on a framework to implement carbon markets under the Paris Agreement, allowing country-to-country trading and a full carbon crediting mechanism. The final text also ensures that emissions reductions are not double-counted in country-to-country trading (known as internationally transferred mitigation outcomes, or ITMOs).

• Gender and Climate - Parties agreed to extend the Lima Work Programme on Gender and Climate Change for another 10 years, reaffirming their dedication to gender equality and climate action. They will also create a new gender action plan to be adopted at COP30, outlining steps for practical implementation. 

Links for further reading:

·         https://www.wri.org/insights/cop29-outcomes-next-steps

·         https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop29-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-climate-talks-in-baku/

·         https://www.iisd.org/articles/statement/cop-29-moves-needle-on-finance

We look forward to continuing the critical work to develop a new carbon economy.  

Please reach out if you’d like to add any updates for next month.