Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Yingshan Lau, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

PROGRAM

ABSTRACT

Carbon offsetting, and the trading of carbon credits on carbon markets, is a market-oriented climate governance approach. Specifically, it is a mechanism to help entities (nations, companies, etc.) address their unavoidable carbon emissions. In Singapore, a future carbon services hub, companies will be able to use high quality international carbon credits to offset up to 5% of their taxable emissions from 2024. Yet, carbon offsetting is not without its critics. Besides the weaknesses in nature-based carbon credit methodologies uncovered by The Guardian in early-2023, enduring criticisms are that carbon offsetting ignores the necessity of decarbonizing the global economy and that some nature-based carbon offsetting projects have led to local communities being dispossessed of their customary lands. There is also the concern that carbon offsetting transactionalises the relationship between the buyer and the seller of carbon credits, whereas the original intention of REDD+ was to have poverty alleviation and development objectives as part of restorative climate justice. In Southeast Asia, where there is high interest in REDD+ financing, regulatory frameworks for carbon offsetting are not yet fully-developed and land tenure remains insecure for rural communities. What is being done to enhance climate justice in carbon offsetting? This roundtable brings together practitioner-experts to contemplate how climate justice is considered in market-based environmental governance mechanisms in Southeast Asia. Speakers in this roundtable will share their views on how carbon offsetting, carbon markets and REDD+ project design consider social safeguards, environmental co-benefits and benefit-sharing, as well as on existing gaps and challenges that need to be addressed.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Wei Mei Hum is concurrently Head of Asia Pacific and Global Head of Environmental Products at AirCarbon Exchange (ACX). She is responsible for advancing ACX’s business interests in the Asia Pacific Region, product structuring and development. She represents ACX on several industry led task forces and committees. Prior to her appointment at ACX, Wei Mei spent over 6 years working on climate change related matters within the Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore. Other positions she has held include Deputy Director for Regulatory Affairs at one of Southeast Asia’s largest utilities, Principal Analyst in Singapore’s electricity and natural gas market regulator and Investment Banker in the corporate finance division of a European Bank.

Lahiru Wijedasa is Asia Forest Coordinator for BirdLife. In this role he manages the diverse forest programme across the BirdLife country partners in Asia. His current work involves working with partners to design and implement long term end-to-end forest projects such as REDD+ carbon projects including the PDD writing on a number of different carbon projects such as avoiding deforestation, avoiding logging and restoration. In addition he is also part of the SCeNE coaliton, which brings together the leading conservation organizations to provide guidance in what good carbon projects mean for biodiversity and communities (i.e. triple benefits). All his work involves working with stakeholders from high-level policy makers and investors to on-the-ground community stakeholders and indigenous peoples. His previous work as the Senior Arborist at the Singapore Botanic Gardens and later as the Co-Principal Investigator for the Integrated Tropical Peatland Research Programme at the National University of Singapore involved both hands-on and policy work with governments, NGOs and communities across almost all ASEAN countries. This includes being the Co-Team leader for the development of the ASEAN Peatland Management strategy which outlines regional policy for over 290,000km² of peatlands across the region.

Micah Ingalls serves as Team Leader of the Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) Project which works in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to promote the tenure security of smallholder farmers through public and private sector reform. The son of a smallholder farmer, Micah has a PhD in Resource Governance from Cornell University and more than 20 years of experience in South, Central and Southeast Asia, working with the United Nations, multi-lateral and bi-lateral development agencies and academia. Before his appointment to MRLG, Micah served as Senior Scientist at the University of Bern’s Centre for Development and Environment.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this hybrid talk has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the event.