Regional voluntary carbon market company chooses Expansive to launch its digital platform in Saudi Arabia
Today, the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market (RCM) announced its collaboration with Expansive to provide technical infrastructure services for its upcoming carbon credit trading platform, set to launch later this year.
Expansive was chosen for its leading expertise in technical infrastructure services for the global energy transition market.
This partnership marks a significant milestone for RCM in its journey to meet its goals of increasing global supply and demand, aiming to provide climate finance to countries in need in the Global South to combat climate change.
The decision to establish the trading platform follows the success of RCM in organizing the largest-ever auctions for voluntary carbon credits worldwide. The first auction took place in October 2022, followed by the second in June 2023.
By selecting Expansive, RCM aims to provide efficient infrastructure for buyers and sellers to execute transactions quickly and securely.
Expansive owns the world’s largest platform for instant carbon credit trading, the “CBL” platform, and will develop the trading platform based on its infrastructure for an open-access market.
This includes same-day settlement platforms and fully automated portfolio management systems connected to major global registries.
Furthermore, RCM will enforce strict guidelines for the trading platform to ensure the inclusion of high-integrity carbon credit projects. It will engage independent bodies to set standards to support the global energy transition.
Deals will be executed following best practices in the market, including a gradual transition towards carbon removal.
In this context, emerging markets and developing countries require $2.4 trillion annually in climate action investments until 2030 to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and global targets for reaching net-zero emissions.
Global voluntary carbon markets, expected to reach $3 billion by the end of 2024, play a crucial role in bridging this financing gap, with their value expected to increase to $100 billion by 2030.
RCM previously organized auctions for voluntary carbon credit trading, with the first auction in 2022 selling 1.4 million tons of carbon credits, and the second in 2023 closing with the sale of 2.2 million tons, indicating increasing demand in the region.
The launch of the new trading platform will help expand the scope of carbon credit trading in the kingdom and globally, contributing to the kingdom’s commitment to addressing climate change in line with the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030.
CEO of RCM, Reham El Jizy, stated, “Every available tool must be used to address the risks posed by climate change.
The previous two auctions we held demonstrate the increasing demand from leading companies in the kingdom to play their role in this work.
Developing a platform for carbon credit trading is the next step in the company’s efforts to become one of the largest voluntary carbon markets in the world by 2030, and our work with Expansive will help us develop infrastructure for a transparent and liquid market.”
Expansive CEO, John Milby, added, “We are honored to work with RCM to realize its vision of creating a new carbon market in the Middle East, and we look forward to supporting the company’s message to create a market that can provide widespread carbon finance, which is crucial to achieving global energy transition goals rapidly.”
