#61: Solving the Rubik’s Cube of Carbon Markets with Steve Boyle

Earthlings 2.0 Podcast

Hello Earthlings! For this week’s episode, we’re starting our summer schedule where we’ll be posting a rerun of a relevant episode every other week. We’re starting our summer schedule off with a very timely episode we did with Steve Boyle of Rubicon Carbon back in 2023. Once again, carbon credits are back in the hot seat after The Biden Administration issued recommended guidelines for increased participation and credibility within the credits system. Listen to learn about the complicated puzzle that is the carbon credits industry and how their biggest problems still persist today.

If you follow this industry, you know the ability of companies to purchase carbon credits to offset their emissions can be as complicated as a Rubik’s Cube. Steve walks us through the industry’s reputational challenges, Verra’s carbon credits scandal, and the differences between nature-based solutions and industrial-based solutions. Steve and Lisa Ann also discuss how Rubicon Carbon is changing the industry to make it easier for corporations to verify and trust the carbon offsets they are purchasing.

In Restoring Our Faith in Humanity- we have the privilege of spotlighting journalist Fathi Mohamed Ahmed, who, in 2022, pioneered Somalia's inaugural all-women newsroom, Bilan Media. Despite confronting pervasive prejudice, this remarkable news team fearlessly tackles previously taboo social topics, such as puberty, the female drug epidemic, and the lives of women living with HIV. Fathi and her dedicated news team exemplify extraordinary courage, and we wholeheartedly commend their endeavors.

This is the fourth episode in our series on carbon emissions. To hear more, other episodes in this series are:

• S1:E3 - Coming Down from the Oil High with Gregor Macdonald
• S3:E2 - The Fake News Machine of Fossil Fuels with Duncan Meisel
• S3:E6 - The Perils and Payoffs of Carbon Credits with Sasha Mackler

Key Points

• Focus on High-Quality Carbon Offsets: Steve emphasizes the need for high-quality carbon offset standards to ensure genuine and measurable emissions reductions.
• Challenges and Credibility Issues in the Carbon Market:Steve addresses the challenges in the carbon offset market, including the credibility issues and the need for offsets that wouldn't occur without investment.
• Impact of Policy and Market Trends: The conversation touches on recent policy changes, such as the Biden Administration's guidelines, and market trends, including the significant drop in the carbon offset market in 2023

Voices on The Show:

• Steve Boyle, VP of Sales, Rubicon Carbon
• Linkedin
• Lisa Ann Pinkerton, Earthlings 2.0 Host, CEO of Technica Communications, and Founder of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
• LinkedIn: Lisa Ann Pinkerton
• X - Lisa Ann Pinkerton
• Instagram - @LisiAnni
• Technica Communications
• Women in Cleantech and Sustainability

Web Resources:

• Rubicon Carbon
• Rubicon’s Linkedin
• Rubicon’s X
• Restoring Our Faith in Humanity: Fathi Mohamed Ahmed and Bilan Media
• Center for Climate and Energy Solutions Article: “The Biden Administration weighs in on voluntary carbon markets”

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