Series 10 – Episode 8 – Combating the climate change crisis with carbon credits

Gouran started off as a software developer at IBM, where he worked for six years. He has also started a couple of companies of his own. In 2020, he became involved in cryptocurrencies.

“My partner and I were actually looking to start a fund in the cleantech space and the more we were exploring that space and learning about carbon credits and environmental finance, we actually realised that it’s a very interesting space.

“We caught the startup bug and decided to launch a business in this space and that’s how BlueSphere Carbon came to be.”

BlueSphere Carbon is a brokerage and marketplace exchange for environmental credits.

“A carbon credit is really just a tradable certificate that certifies that one tonne of CO2 or GHG (Green House Gas) equivalent was removed from the atmosphere so that another party can offset with it.”

Carbon offsetting is the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

“Carbon credits come from multiple places. There is a voluntary carbon market, which is just companies and individuals who are doing it for either a social signal, their shareholder base or just their own social responsibility.

“Then there are mandatory credits, compliance credits that governments mandate. Certain businesses can only emit a certain amount of carbon and if they reach their limit, they actually offset it by either removing it from the atmosphere themselves or buying these carbon credits.”

A carbon credits worth can vary depending on how legitimate it is and how stringent it is.

But these carbon credits have a loose definition. According to Greenpeace, carbon credits could be used to ‘greenwash’ and distract the world from those companies who are not prepared to lose profits to combat the climate crisis.

Gouran goes on to talk about greenwashing, what is next for the global carbon credit market and some examples of the main types of carbon offset projects.

To hear more about carbon credits and much more, you can listen to Electronic Specifier’s interview with Shidan Gouran on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.