# New York Climate Week Day Two: Carbon Market Integrity and the Path to Article Six Implementation
New York Climate Week delivered the most substantive discussions yet on carbon market integrity and the practical implementation of the Paris Accord's Article Six mechanisms. The discussions with government officials, regulatory architects, and market integrity organizations together for focused conversations about how carbon markets will actually function in the regulatory space.
The Players at the Table
The discussions featured an impressive array of decision-makers who are literally building the infrastructure for global carbon markets:
From Singapore: Federico Di Credico, Acting CEO of the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) and Benedict Chia, Director General for Climate Change, Strategy Group, Prime Minister's Office of Singapore
From Indonesia: Harsono Hartono, Vice Chair of Environment, Government of Indonesia
From Brazil: Lopez Pereira de Mello Secretary, Ministry for the Environment, Government of Brazil
Market Integrity: Annette Nazareth, Chair of the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (and former Chair of the SEC who oversaw US markets after the 2008 financial crisis)
European Union/United Kingdom: Representatives from the Climate Data Steering Committee, based in the UK
Singapore's Infrastructure Play: The Climate Action Data Trust
The centerpiece revelation was Singapore's commitment to building what amounts to the regulatory backbone for carbon markets. The Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) isn't just another blockchain project—it's being incorporated under the International Climate Change Secretariat of the Government of Singapore, with direct backing from the Prime Minister's Office.
This is significant. Singapore is executing what New Zealand once considered: a government-backed, blockchain-based carbon credit registry. But Singapore isn't stopping at domestic use. CAD Trust is being positioned as international infrastructure, providing a registry of credits on the blockchain that ensures integrity for regulatory markets globally.
The emphasis on *regulatory* markets—not voluntary markets—is crucial. This is about government-mandated compliance and international trade under Article Six of the Paris Accord, not corporate feel-good offset purchases.
Article Six: From Theory to Implementation
Article Six of the Paris Accord allows nations to trade carbon credits toward their climate commitments. Sounds simple, but the implementation questions are complex:
What methodologies are valid for generating credits?
How do you account for them across different project types?
How do you audit them?
How do you monetize them?
How do these credits influence trade deals between nations?
The discussion made clear that regulatory markets will drive future trade agreements. If a nation needs to meet Paris commitments and can do so through Article Six trading, that becomes a geopolitical consideration in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations.
Nature-Based Credits: The Indonesia-Brazil Dimension
The presence of officials from Indonesia and Brazil wasn't accidental. Between them, they hold two of the world's largest rainforest reserves. The discussion centered on whether and how nations should be compensated for rainforest preservation—something parallel to New Zealand's indigenous species plantings and initiatives like those in Marlborough District.
But the conversation got real quickly. Questions emerged about:
Palm oil plantations in Indonesia and the destruction of rainforest
Soybean and beef farming expansion in Brazil
Carbon reversals—what happens when previously credited forests are cleared?
This led to the Climate Data Steering Committee (UK/EU) entering the conversation about how to value regulatory credits and ensure they form the largest piece of climate action while influencing trade deals.
When Alimentary Systems Entered the Conversation
At this point, we presented what Alimentary Systems is doing in the waste space. The response was immediate and enthusiastic, particularly from the Singapore delegation. When you're in a room full of people building theoretical frameworks, showing a working demonstration of BURP.io—a nested data registry actually generating and tracking credits from waste processing—gets attention.
The waste sector represents 25% of global emissions. By focusing specifically on waste, Alimentary Systems offers nations a way to utilize the Article Six mechanism while creating robust carbon finance beyond just rainforest preservation. The officials understood this immediately.
Super Pollutants: Where the Quick Wins Are
Universal agreement emerged on one point: combating super pollutants is the simplest and quickest way to achieve climate impact.
Super pollutants are greenhouse gases with outsized atmospheric effects:
Methane (CH₄)
Nitrous oxide (N₂O)
Fluorocarbons (refrigerants)
The North American example is staggering: an estimated 800,000 to 1 million oil wells in the United States are leaking methane from test wells drilled for oil production. There's an entire program underway just to cap these leaking wells.
For the rest of the world, the focus on combating methane emissions from the primary sector and from waste becomes critical. This is where preventing emissions—rather than offsetting them—offers real, rapid impact.
Voluntary Markets Get Redefined
The discussion clarified something important: voluntary markets aren't competing with regulatory markets. They're serving a different function as secondary markets.
Here's how it works: Say Alimentary Systems builds a facility in Nelson that generates carbon credits. If those credits exceed what can be utilized against New Zealand's regulatory requirements under Article Six, the surplus credits could be offered into a secondary market at a potentially lower price.
These secondary markets would primarily serve sectors like aviation and shipping that need offsets but aren't covered by direct regulatory mechanisms. The focus remains on reducing super pollutants in real-time as quickly as possible.
The Integrity Question: Blockchain and the SEC Model
This is where Annette Nazareth's presence became significant. Bringing SEC experience from post-2008 financial markets to carbon markets means applying rigorous frameworks for:
Forwards and futures trading of secondary market credits
Derivatives regulation
Preventing market manipulation
Ensuring transparency
The blockchain registry maintained by CAD Trust provides visibility for all participants, preventing double-counting and enabling transparent tracking of credit generation, transfer, and retirement.
The Unanswered Questions
Refreshingly, the gathered officials—despite their senior positions—acknowledged that fundamental questions remain unanswered:
Credit vintages: At what point do credits lose value? What constitutes the "tail" for credit validity in secondary markets?
Global Warming Potential timeframes: Do you use the 20-year or 100-year timeframe for calculating impact? (This matters enormously for methane, which has much higher GWP over 20 years than 100 years.)
Market integrity concerns: How do you prevent hoarding? How do you prevent inappropriate reselling? When should credits be retired?
The honest assessment: these are the structures being created to ensure carbon markets function as originally designed, but operational details are still evolving. This is the architecture phase, not the finished building.
What Was Validated
Several things became clear from these discussions:
Real projects matter. In a market fragmented by consultants, certifiers, and verifiers, actually developing projects that generate credits is valued.
Waste sector is priority. At 25% of global emissions and focused on super pollutants, waste projects are exactly what regulatory markets need.
Blockchain isn't hype. Nested data registries on blockchain align with the infrastructure being developed by governments.
Article Six readiness is real. The mechanisms for international trading are being built now, and systems that can integrate with these frameworks have clear advantages.
Geographic Opportunities Emerging
Indonesia has significant agricultural waste challenges alongside rainforest preservation objectives. The government representative was briefed on our work and the existing relationship from the Archipelagic and Island State Summit creates a foundation.
Brazil showed the strongest immediate understanding of waste sector applications. The Environment Ministry secretary explicitly recognized the utility of organic waste processing in Brazil's agricultural economy and mentioned potential collaboration.
Singapore is positioning itself as the geographic hub for APAC carbon markets through CAD Trust. The government backing and strategic priority from the Prime Minister's Office signals this isn't a pilot program—it's national infrastructure.
Why This Matters
We're watching the regulatory infrastructure for global carbon markets being built in real-time. The officials in these discussions aren't talking about what might happen—they're building what will happen. Article Six implementation, blockchain registries, super pollutant priorities, and the relationship between regulatory and voluntary markets are all being defined right now.
For companies operating in this space, particularly those focused on high-impact sectors like waste management, the validation is clear: build real projects that generate verifiable emissions reductions, and the market infrastructure is being developed to properly value and trade those credits.
The conversation continues, but New York Climate Week 2025 provided unprecedented clarity on where global carbon markets are heading—and confirmed that focusing on waste sector super pollutants puts you exactly where the regulatory market needs you to be.
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Alimentary Systems develops integrated waste-to-energy solutions with built-in carbon credit generation and verification through BPRP.io. The company is headquartered in New Zealand with manufacturing in India and a global board spanning Japan, India, and New Zealand.