Building billion-dollar ideas from carbon credits| Shuvasish Bhowmick | TEDxDaffodilU

Carbon Credit: Building Billion Dollar Ideas

Key Concepts:

• Carbon Credit: A tradable permit representing the removal or reduction of one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.
• Carbon Market: A system where carbon credits are traded, allowing entities to offset their emissions by purchasing credits from projects that reduce or remove carbon.
• Clean Cooking: Transitioning from traditional cooking methods using firewood and fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives like electric or induction stoves.
• DMRV (Digitally Monitored, Reported, and Verified) Carbon: Carbon credits that are tracked and verified using digital technologies, increasing their credibility and value.
• Greenwashing: The practice of making false or misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or company.
• Impact: The positive change or benefit created by a project or initiative, particularly in terms of environmental and social outcomes.

1. Introduction to Carbon Credit and its Potential

• The speaker introduces the concept of carbon credit as a means to get paid for protecting the climate.
• He emphasizes the potential for building billion-dollar ideas from carbon credit, describing it as a new sustainable currency that can be monetized for doing good.
• He shares his personal philosophy that doing good and creating impact for others leads to unexpected rewards. He cites his content creation journey with his kids as an example, which led to awards like Guinness World Record and Princess Diana Award.

2. Cook to Earn: A Real-World Application

• The speaker presents a "cook to earn" concept implemented in Bangladesh.
• In Bangladesh, 17% of people still cook with unclean fuels like firewood, leading to indoor air pollution and over 100,000 deaths annually.
• The solution involves shifting people to clean energy sources (induction cooking) and tracking their cooking data using IoT devices.
• This data is converted into carbon credits, which are sold to carbon buyers, and the revenue is shared with the women in rural villages who use the clean stoves.
• This initiative saves them money, reduces indoor air pollution, and provides them with additional income.

3. Why Carbon Matters: The Global Context

• The speaker highlights the global issue of carbon emissions, with over 36 billion tons of carbon injected into the atmosphere annually.
• This contributes to rising global temperatures, leading to climate disasters like floods and droughts.
• The global goal is to reduce temperatures by 2°C.
• Carbon credit emerges as a solution to incentivize carbon reduction, as people are more likely to adopt good practices when financially rewarded.

4. How Carbon Market Works: A Trading System

• The carbon market involves a trade between entities that emit carbon and those that reduce it.
• Countries and companies with high emissions are assigned limits and must either reduce their emissions or purchase carbon credits from projects that remove or reduce carbon.
• Climate projects like tree plantation, forestation, clean cooking projects, EV cars, and renewable energy projects generate carbon credits.
• These credits are then sold to carbon buyers, creating a financial incentive for carbon reduction.

5. The Speaker's Experience and Innovation

• The speaker shares his 17 years of experience in the energy sector, including fossil fuels, and his shift to renewable energy to create a greater impact.
• He explains how his company addressed the clean cooking problem by integrating IoT devices into induction stoves.
• The IoT device tracks cooking data, which is then converted into carbon credits and certified by professional bodies.
• The revenue from selling these credits is shared with the rural women using the stoves, motivating them to continue using clean energy.
• Currently, more than 5,000 women in Bangladesh are participating in this program and receiving weekly payments.

6. Elon Musk and the Carbon Credit Market

• The speaker cites Elon Musk as an example of someone who has successfully leveraged the carbon credit market.
• Since 2012, Tesla has been selling carbon credits to competitors who produce fossil fuel cars.
• This has generated over $16 billion in revenue for Tesla in 2020 alone.

7. Carbon Credit Pricing and Buyers

• The price of carbon credits varies from $1 to $4 per ton, depending on the project type and credibility.
• DMRV carbon credits, which are digitally monitored and verified, can fetch higher prices, ranging from $15 to $25 per ton.
• In some cases, carbon credit prices can reach as high as $8,200.
• Buyers include companies that need to comply with emission regulations, build their reputation, and meet other compliance requirements.

8. Building a Carbon Business: Opportunities and Examples

• The speaker encourages listeners to identify opportunities to build carbon businesses.
• He uses the analogy of Uber using spare cars and Airbnb using spare properties, suggesting that there is a market for "spare carbon credit."
• He provides an example of rice production in Bangladesh, where patty fields emit significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
• A carbon project could focus on reducing methane emissions from these fields through various initiatives, allowing farmers to earn money from carbon credits in addition to selling their rice.

9. Conclusion: Impact and Motivation

• The speaker emphasizes that the impact of carbon credit projects is more than just financial; it's about making a positive difference in the world.
• He reiterates his philosophy of doing good and creating impact, believing that nature will reward those who do so.
• He encourages listeners to dream big, do something good, and create a lasting impact.

Main Takeaways:

• Carbon credit is a viable mechanism for incentivizing climate action and building sustainable businesses.
• The "cook to earn" model demonstrates how carbon credit can improve lives and reduce emissions simultaneously.
• Digital monitoring and verification (DMRV) enhance the credibility and value of carbon credits.
• Opportunities exist to develop innovative carbon projects in various sectors, such as agriculture.
• The impact of carbon credit projects extends beyond financial gains, contributing to a more sustainable and equitable future.