DUBAI (December 3, 2023) – Today at the COP28 climate negotiations, the U.S. State Department along with The Rockefeller Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund launched a framework for the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), a program designed to generate funding through the voluntary carbon market to help developing countries transition to cleaner sources of energy.   

Following is a statement from Ani Dasgupta, President & CEO, World Resources Institute:  

“The Global Stocktake shows that we need to rapidly accelerate investments in the energy transition by scaling-up renewable energy while phasing-out fossil fuels. It specifically calls out the urgent need to get financing to developing countries in order to avoid locking-in fossil fuel infrastructure.   

“It is absolutely clear that public funding alone will not be sufficient – the transition will require unprecedented amounts of private capital to flow to the Global South, which is not happening today. 

“The Energy Transition Accelerator has taken an innovative approach to channel private capital to the Global South through corporate climate action. The details really matter to ensure this initiative is rigorous and impactful.   

“We support the commitment of the ETA to create the highest-quality carbon credits that can complement companies’ efforts to reduce emissions in their own operations and value chains. If done right, these jurisdictional-scale credits have the potential to re-energize carbon markets and provide a new path towards real global emission reductions. 

“We commit to work with the ETA and standard-setters, including VCMI, SBTi and IC-VCM toward a robust crediting methodology and a comprehensive framework to incentivize companies to invest in high-quality credits.”