Assunção Cristas and Catarina Pinto Correia signed the article entitled "Towards a flourishing voluntary carbon market in Portugal", published in the newspaper Água & Ambiente.

The article discusses mechanisms to accelerate emissions reductions, namely prioritising the regulation of voluntary carbon markets, in response to the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). ‘Voluntary carbon markets are expected to grow exponentially in the upcoming years,’ say the VdA lawyers.

In order to achieve this, the article points out that the full operationalisation of the market depends on complementary legislation, some of which has already been published, and highlights three fundamental points that still need to be achieved: ‘firstly, the appointment of the members of the Technical Monitoring Committee’, ‘secondly, the development and entry into operation of the digital platform for public registration’, and finally, ‘the publication of the decree regulating the conditions and minimum capitals for insurance to cover possible situations of involuntary reversal of sequestered emissions’.

With the proper implementation of these measures, Assunção Cristas and Catarina Pinto Correia conclude that the significant growth of voluntary carbon markets could allow companies and other entities to contribute to climate action by financing carbon reduction and removal projects, valuing ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine.

• This article can be consulted here.