Qatar’s GCC is eyeing Egypt’s bourse: Egypt’s stock exchange — the EGX — will list carbon credits issued by Doha-based international provider Global Carbon Council (GCC) on its planned carbon market under a MoU signed by the two sides, it said in a statement (pdf) this week.

REFRESHER- The EGX is set to launch Africa’s first voluntary carbon market (VCM) in mid-2023 and is partnering with the Agricultural Bank of Egypt and Enara Group’s Libra Capital to establish Libra Carbon, the Egyptian company that will supply carbon offsets to the VCM.

What they said: “EGX’s collaboration with GCC will help in achieving global climate goals besides creating new business opportunities for the African continent through a transparent and fair ecosystem, this collaboration will increase the liquidity in the market and give investors access to high quality carbon credits which they can use to offset their residual emissions and take their steps towards achieving net‐zero goals,” EGX Executive Chairman Rami El‐Dokany noted in the statement.

Who are GCC? The GCC is a Qatar-based voluntary carbon offsetting program that works with groups in the MENA region and beyond to offset carbon emissions. It issues carbon credits for a range of emission-reduction projects, and has been approved by international organizations including UN International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance.

But their business model has been drawing criticism: GCC — which sold carbon credits offsetting some 1.8 mn tons to Qatar in a bid to help push down emissions generated in the wake of Fifa’s 2022 World Cup in Doha — approves projects that fail to meet global environmental standards. The program greenlights projects in middle-income countries like India and Turkey that incentivize developers to build renewables projects with the promise of additional revenue from carbon credit sale, Bloomberg reported last year, adding that such incentives are no longer needed as the steep drop in the cost of renewable power over the past decade renders clean energy ventures already cost-efficient.

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