With delegations from around the world descending on Glasgow for the negotiations and events making up COP26, attendees from New Zealand include representatives from both the Sustainable Business Council and the Climate Leaders Coalition.

We talked to some of those who will be taking part on the ground in Glasgow to find out why they are going, and what they are hoping to achieve. This week we hear from Dave Rouse, Chief Executive of CarbonClick.

• What’s your role?

CarbonClick is the tech partner for delivering more meaningful carbon offset systems, powering the world’s leading enterprises including Etihad- the official airline of COP26.

Our capacity for attending COP26 is in the voluntary offset space, we are seeking to raise the bar and seek better legislation and indicators of the quality of each offset project.

We particularly want to highlight the added value that comes from projects with good additionality, biodiversity, social impact and permanence values. By raising awareness of these factors, we will raise the price and attractiveness, which sets these values as a reliable direction the market should hear in.

• Why did you feel it was important to attend?

I felt it was important to attend as the climate crisis is something that we all need to act upon, and to act quickly on. Having this opportunity to be at COP alongside world’s leaders who are working together to plan for our future and to take global climate action is incredible and I hope to discuss the importance of carbon offsetting and how we can raise the bar on offsets.

• What are you expecting to be doing while you are in Glasgow?

I’ll be establishing communications lines with policy makers within the UN surrounding the voluntary market. I’ll be learning about the progress being made so far in this market and interpreting myself what is likely to happen to supply and demand in this and the compliance sectors, in order to be able to pass meaningful insights on to our clients.

• What are you hoping to achieve while you are there?

I’m hoping our primary issue of qualitative ratings for offsets will be at least implemented by UNFCCC to supplement their SDG flags against each project, so that businesses and individuals buying carbon credits can be sure their money is making the biggest possible difference to our planet’s long term future.

We will also be advancing talks with organizations such as WWF where our platform could be whitelabled to help them unlock funding source opportunities, and where we can partner to purchase offsets either directly from them or ones that will help them to achieve their own (closely aligned) biodiversity goals.

Watch our latest chat with David Rouse at COP26 in Glasgow with New Zealand journalist Rod Oram.

In this update from Glasgow, New Zealand journalist Rod Oram speaks with Dave Rouse, Chief Executive of CarbonClick, in the COP26 – UN Climate Change Conference Green Room about his ambitions, the current negotiations, and the opportunities from being part of the action on the ground at #COP26. Transcript here.