ZERO13, the COP28 award-winning GMEX Group initiative providing a digital climate fintech platform-as-a-service, and XTCC, the world’s first exchange-traded investment products for high-integrity carbon credits sourced from verified, renewable energy and regenerative agriculture projects, announce a Statement of Accord targeting $100bn capital market investment into high-integrity carbon credits to help address the multi-trillion dollar annual climate financing gap.

“In order to avert a catastrophic climate disaster, global clean energy investments of approximately $4-5 trillion are required annually by 2030 – a more than threefold increase from existing investment levels” according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). The details of how the Accord by XTCC and ZERO13 addresses the current problems in carbon markets, its call to action, and the methodology to achieve its goals will be presented at the WEF Futur.IO Davos Executive Reception on 17 January, at 09:00 CET. 

Signatories of the Accord commit to improving the integrity and credibility of carbon credits and working towards an economic model that will restore trust in the carbon credit market and drive liquidity. ZERO13 and XTCC call upon stakeholders from across the climate value chain to take collective action and invest further in digitally verifiable, high-integrity carbon credits. This investment will drive community development and economic progress in the Global South and emerging nations, and empower others to initiate and drive change within the carbon credit industry.

In collaboration with multiple climate ecosystem partners, the Accord serves as a financial and digital gateway to project funders and investors looking for returns. By driving liquidity through capital markets that will provide more opportunities to fund projects, ZERO13 and XTCC will be able to mobilize local capital and international pools of funds. Currently, ZERO13 and XTCC are engaged in multiple countries, with over $1bn in current bankable projects in India, Brazil, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles and South Africa.

As an example, Kenya is already a leader in the generation of carbon credits in Africa, accounting for over 20% of the continent’s volume over the past five years. At COP28, the ‘Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative’ was held, focused on accelerating Africa’s green industrialization, co-hosted by Kenya and the UAE and attended by African Heads of State and leading figures from green developers, industry, multilateral development banks, and key institutions globally.

The combination of ZERO13’s digital carbon climate market infrastructure ecosystem and XTCC’s exchange-listed investment products instils trust and creates a platform to capture the expected growth in the demand for high-integrity carbon credits. Moreover, ZERO13 and XTCC enable capital markets distribution of high-integrity regenerative agriculture and renewable energy projects that produce carbon credits with complete digitally verified provenance. This collaboration is set to be a leader in the climate markets, augmenting private climate financing with large-scale capital from public markets.

Hirander Misra, Chairman and CEO of GMEX Group and ZERO13 said, “We are excited that our ZERO13 ‘networks of networks’ platform has built upon its award win at COP28 to enable this collective action at Davos during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting by fostering connectivity and collaboration across global climate markets.” 

He added, “Through our partnerships with XTCC, multiple exchanges, participants, custodians, and registries we increase interoperability, digitally interconnect silos, and bridge the gap between climate tech and fintech. This enables us to scale climate finance across multiple APIs and blockchains and build capacity where it is needed most, benefitting countries, corporations and communities.” 

Professor Lisa Wilson, MD of XTCC said, “The partnership between XTCC and ZERO13 isn’t merely infrastructure and talking about a call for investment. We recognise that after COP28 much more than talk is required. The Accord is a critical pledge with full commitment by all stakeholders to a sustainable net zero future. Investing in high-integrity carbon credits will spur new carbon reduction initiatives, playing a crucial role in meeting net zero targets. Together we have set the foundations with a full end-to-end trusted ecosystem for high-integrity carbon credits, removing obstructions so that investment can flow freely with full investor confidence.”