… the registry was launched with World Bank and Singaporean support

YK Poudel

With the launch of Bhutan’s National Carbon Registry yesterday, the country can now collaborate with the World Bank climate warehouse.

The registry was unveiled at the ongoing 28th Conference of Parties (COP28), attended by officials from the World Bank, Singapore, and the government of Bhutan.

Bhutan has now integrated with the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) meta-data layer—a decentralized, blockchain platform developed by the World Bank, International Emissions Trading Association, and Singapore in December 2022.

Bhutan signed the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016, and ratified it in 2017.

Aligning with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC), with support from Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), generated a national registry responsible for utilizing an electronic registry that complies with the orientation for unit identification and tracking of carbon.

Associate Analyst, DHI, Zeerie Chhodoen, said that the registry is capable of facilitating the transfer of unit ownership or holdings and transparently identifying units of carbon status, including issuance and cancellation status. “The registry leverages a common data model to aggregate and harmonize data from country registries.”

“The system employs AI and blockchain technology that will foster capacity building and experiential learning between various sectors, ensuring bottom-up ownership,” she said.

The registry, according to her, will help Bhutan avail the opportunities of global carbon markets. The registry aims to raise environmental ambition, build capacity and climate resilience while contributing to global efforts in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Bhutan seeks to promote sustainable practices and low-carbon solutions by exploring the development of carbon markets and generating carbon credits.

Moreover, the plan is to have accurate carbon tracking, accounting, and reporting of emission reduction units—harnessing carbon finance is one of the aims to advance the country’s climate mitigation strategies and objectives.

Carbon Markets Rules for the Kingdom of Bhutan 2023 state that any entity wishing to participate in carbon markets should seek a Letter of Authorisation from the DECC regarding a mitigation outcome activity carried out within Bhutan and validated or verified using the procedures set out by the National Environment Commission Secretariat.

As a legislative compliance policy with all relevant national laws and international legal instruments in force in Bhutan, the National Environment Protection Act 2007, Climate Change Policy 2020, and The Paris Agreement are the guiding policies towards the carbon registry.