Sometime ago, the Bahamian people heard a lot about carbon credits and how the country can benefit from the sale of it.

Prime Minister Philip Davis took the advocacy on the global stage for increased reductions of emissions and for multilateral banks to make changes that can leverage private investments and create fair and win-win climate finance.

Our seagrass meadows, which cover an astonishing 92,000 square kilometers, appear to be absorbing as much or even more carbon than the Amazon Rainforest.

The Bahamas has been mapping out seagrasses with the help of not just scientists but tiger sharks, who are a critical part of our underwater surveying team, wearing cameras and sending back data points.

The Bahamas intends to be the first country in the world to issue Blue Carbon Credits.  The IMF has acknowledged Blue Carbon as an asset class and has indicated interest in purchasing our Blue Carbon credits.

While we are exploring the best options for tokenizing and leveraging these assets, most major airlines now offer customers an add-on to their ticket purchase:  the chance to offset the carbon emissions generated by their flight.

We call on the authorities in The Bahamas to put on more speed as the country grapples with the tremendous expenses caused by climate change and the devastation caused by hurricanes which destroyed infrastructure in the islands.

Carbon offsets or credits are investments in sustainability projects around the globe that, in theory, conserve enough emissions to counteract those produced by carbon-intensive activities such as manufacturing or jet travel. The project represents a range of efforts, including renewable energy development and reforestation schemes.

The Bahamas must push for global standards on who and what can be charged for carbon credits.

In addition, there must be better public education here on how the credits will be measured, how they will be offered for sale, to whom and at what cost. There are far too many Bahamians who have little appreciation of the concept and are wondering if it is all “a pie in the sky” idea.

The voluntary carbon market relies on registries — the marketplaces where credits are purchased — to verify that each offering is legitimate and to calculate its carbon emissions reduction.  To gain credibility, the voluntary carbon offset market needs uniformed verification standards, thorough vetting of projects and a focus on high-integrity offsets.

Leaders at this year’s COP29, a major U.N. climate conference that begins in November, could take their cue from the Biden administration and start the process for establishing those standards.  Global governing bodies should also demand greater transparency in the voluntary carbon market and the offset projects of which it consists.

The original concept behind offsets remains promising. Offsets enable individuals, companies and governments to contribute to sustainability efforts even if they can’t wring carbon out of their own operations.

The Bahamas needs the carbon offset system to improve our fiscal situation and the world needs it to clean up its act.