London, Lilongwe, Vernier, Brisbane: The long awaited ITMO Auction  is now ready to take Buyer Registration via the world´s first and leading global Voluntary Carbon platform, Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX). The Auction will commence on Thursday 27^th and finish on Thursday the 4^th of July 2024 and hosted at https://ctxglobal.com/auctions/.

Featuring 1.5 million issued credits already escrowed for sale in CTX Gold Standard Registry account, which will flow much needed climate finance, benefiting vast numbers of people across the African nation of Malawi. These credits will round out any developed nations future NDC purchases under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.    

Over 550,000 households benefit from the selected premium Gold Standard project which disseminates the “Chitetezo Mbaula” cleaner cook stove, designed, developed and produced in Malawi, significantly reducing health and environmental issues associated with traditional cooking methods. It is a “for-profit” model, supported by CO₂ credit sales, ensures sustainability and growth, delivering a comprehensive solution for health, environmental, and socioeconomic challenges in Malawi, tackling 7 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Compared to the traditional three-stone fire, it cuts emitted particles by 46%, carbon monoxide by 44%, and decreases firewood consumption by about 40%, crucial for combating deforestation. This stove lowers each family’s emissions by roughly 2 tCO₂e annually. In a country where most households use solid fuels for cooking, the Chitetezo Mbaula stove is produced mainly by rural women, fostering local entrepreneurship, job creation, and skills diversification.

The Dual Certified project has its Letter of Authorisation issued by the Malawi Government under Article 6. So, a share of the proceeds is to be assigned to the host country government, to be re-invested in adapting to and responding to more intense and frequent extreme weather events such as Cyclone Freddy, which took the lives of some 1,216 Malawians last year.  

“We want the carbon market to boost the country’s economy, create jobs and to create real benefits in our towns and villages and so we look forward to a successful auction and hope this can be the first of many”, says Malawi’s Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Honourable Michael Usi.  Available for purchase at Auction starting at a price of $10 USD per credit, with a required minimum bid capacity of $500,000 to $1 million USD. The final bid credits can be immediately transferred to a nominated Gold Standard Registry account or can be held /escrowed for future resale or cancellation – Voluntary or for a nations Paris Agreement NDC.

“Finding High Quality ITMOs since we launched the Auction concept at COP28, has been like digging for gold” says CTX CEO, Wayne Sharpe. “We found the richest vein we could hope for, in our long-standing partners, Gold Standard, and a well-established CTX client. Putting funds into Cookstoves in Malawi ticks every box we ever created CTX for in the first place”.  

Gold Standard CEO, Margaret Kim added “Globally, around 2.3 billion people cook over open fires. Global net zero and the Sustainable Development Goals for health, education, gender equality and poverty reduction simply cannot be achieved without helping people adapt their cooking practices. Projects like this one, funded by the purchase of carbon credits, make a real difference to the planet and to people’s health and livelihoods.”