The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced last week that it and its partners within the Digital4Climate (D4C) Working Group have developed an open-source software which would allow countries to effectively manage data and processes for trading carbon credits at the national level.
The software, called the National Carbon Registry, has recently received accreditation as a digital public good (DPG). Since it uses open-source code, countries are able to replicate and adapt the information as needed according to their own needs and contexts, which is expected to reduce production costs and implementation timelines.
The registry is designed based on input from various countries, following national and international best practices, by the Digital4Climate (D4C) Working Group, with participation from UNDP, the World Bank through its Climate Warehouse Program, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) among others.
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“To achieve our ambitious Global Goals for the planet, we need to take an open and informed approach to digital technology that promotes integration and collaboration between different sectors and actors,” Achim Steiner, UNDP’s Administrator, said in a comment.
Juergen Voegele, the World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development, added that high-integrity, transparent carbon markets are “an investment in our sustainable future” and that digital infrastructure is crucial for their upscaling.
According to developing countries’ current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), more than US$6 trillion would be needed by 2030 to finance their climate action goals, and 83% of NDCs include the use of international market mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Development efforts for the National Carbon Registry were supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the Government of Japan, while the Government of Switzerland funded UNDP’s voluntary cooperation platform and the World Bank’s Climate Warehouse Program.
