Agenda – Carbon Forward North America 2024

08.30     Registration and coffee

09.00     Conference welcome address

09.20     State and trends of North America’s carbon markets

• Get the lowdown on emissions trading schemes in Canada, the US, and Mexico. What are the risks, the opportunities, and how as an emitter can you survive and thrive?

10.15    Carbon pricing from coast to coast to coast

• Take a trip across Canada’s diverse carbon pricing landscape, and hear how individual provinces and territories are imposing a cost on greenhouse gas emissions. We’ll also explore the development and political risk facing the federal government’s policies, including the backstop tax and oil & gas emissions cap, and consider what things might look like after the next election.

11.00    Coffee & networking break

11.15     Going global: Carbon pricing beyond borders

• Carbon pricing is expanding globally, with the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) catalysing a new generation of policies and trading systems. The US has made international waves with its IRA and its stimulus for ‘green’ investment. The playing field is becoming unlevelled. How can governments around the world react to the growing asymmetry around incentives, and in particular what is Canada’s approach? This session will feature a presentation followed by a panel discussion.

12.30    Lunch & networking

13.30    Investors’ hot take

• Investors provide much-needed liquidity in global carbon markets, but what’s in it for them? Hear from the banks and investment funds that see carbon as a mature and investable asset class, or how it can be used to ‘green’ a portfolio.

14.15    Peering past power

• Now that power generation sector is largely decarbonising, the focus turns to other sectors. How are some of North America’s biggest industrial, consumer goods, and logistics companies using carbon markets, offsetting, insetting, and pricing to decarbonise their operations? This panel shines a spotlight the corporates taking a leadership role here

15.00     Coffee & networking break

15.15     Seeing the NBS through the trees

• North America is still the place for many nature-based solution project types. But how has the landscape evolved since the first projects were registered? What are the risks, new and old? How can you future-proof your project, and what are the other NBS developments to watch out for, including from First Nations and the agricultural sector?

16.00     Carbon removals enters the chat

• Removals are the hot new thing, but do you know your BECCS from your DAC? Your OCDR from your ERW? We’ll chat to some of the pioneers of these exciting technologies and hear about the challenges and opportunities presenting themselves. The panel will explore key questions including: What does long-term demand look like, both from voluntary and compliance markets? How fast and how far can costs drop? What role can CCUS play, and could this industry be a target for regulation?

17.00     Close of day one