Saudi PIF-backed company to hold world’s largest voluntary carbon credit auction

The world’s largest sale of voluntary carbon credits, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on June 14th.

The event will see more than 2 million tonnes of carbon credits auctioned to more than 15 companies from various countries including Saudi Arabia.

Buyers can use the credits to compensate for the impact of their carbon emissions.

The event is organized by the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC), an organization set up by the PIF and Saudi Tadawul Group.

Nairobi has been chosen as the location for the auction to help illustrate the role that voluntary carbon markets can play in bringing investment to emerging economies, RVCMC said in a statement.

It will be the second sale of carbon credits held by RVCMC. In October 2022, RVCMC hosted its first auction at the 6th edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh.

At the time, this was the largest-ever carbon credit sale auction with 1.4 million tonnes of carbon credits successfully auctioned – enough to compensate for the annual emissions of 250,000 family cars.

Carbon credits are created through projects that either avoid the creation of emissions, for example by using renewable or energy efficient technologies, or by capturing and storing emissions from the atmosphere, known as carbon removals.

The projects related to the Nairobi auction event are a mix of CO2 avoidance and removal, the majority of which originate in Africa.

This includes the supply of improved clean cookstoves to communities in Kenya and Rwanda and renewable energy projects in Egypt and South Africa.

“With this auction, RVCMC will reach a depth and scale where it can make a meaningful difference and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” said Rania Nashar, Chairperson of RVCMC, in a statement.