SCB’s recent visit to carbon projects in Nepal reinforced the confidence of SCB’s Head of Carbon, Natalia Beales, that strict selection criteria, integrity in implementation and disciplined monitoring and update procedures are key to successful project realization.
The SCB Carbon Team visited three sites in Nepal to observe a carbon offset project, which provides safe and clean drinking water to communities including Shree Rastriya Secondary School, Janta Secondary School, as well as a community in Santpur in Southeast Nepal, the country’s most populous region.
The project finances the provision of clean drinking water filter units, installed in communities most affected by water-borne diseases in an environment where natural resources are scarce. The project reduces illness associated with water sanitation and hygiene; it also tackles environmental issues including carbon emissions reductions from burning wood to purify drinking water.
A teacher at Shree Rastriya Secondary School gives a ‘thumbs up’ to the clean drinking water available to pupils through SCB financing.
“It is very important for us to be here, to ensure that one of our core values, which is integrity, is present throughout the implementation and the running of the project. Ensuring quality and credibility is essential both for us and for our customers who we provide with carbon neutral solutions along their pathway to net zero.
“Being a customer-centric merchant, it is essential for us to have a very strict selection criteria, for projects we are funding, to ensure the carbon offsets, which are issued from those projects are transparent, additional, verified and credible.
Reputation and integrity are everything for us. Reputation and solid, sustainable image are at the forefront of many of our customers’ agendas,” says Natalia.
In Nepal, up to 80 percent of the water is not safe to drink, SCB supports programs to reduce child morbidity from preventable water-borne diseases. In addition, the water purification units reduce the burden on women from spending valuable time collecting scare firewood.
“The impact of this carbon and livelihood programme is phenomenal. Being here and being connected to the communities we are supporting, is very important for us. It’s a huge responsibility to share this emotional journey and experience with our customers, to encourage them to support such subjects, through purchasing of carbon offsets, which won’t just contribute to climate action, but also to the enhancement of livelihood and wellbeing of many, many people in the world who are in desperate need of that, ” says Natalia.
Being present in the field, engaging in person with project stakeholders and communities allows the SCB carbon team to share our appreciation for what carbon finance can achieve together with local communities alongside carbon outcomes as well as the knock-on effect of corporate buying behavior changes. We want to share this message with all our corporate customers.
“There are incredible carbon offset projects out there reducing and removing carbon and generating huge biodiversity and livelihood benefits. The worst possible outcome for our planet and our future generation is to do nothing,” adds Natalia.
The observations were made at site visits to projects developed with VNV Advisory in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, see our related news item: Carbon emissions avoidance supports health wellbeing of communities
