In early May, I flew halfway around the world to Singapore for Ecosperity Week. The contrast with the U.S. was stark: while the focus in Washington, D.C. is on fighting policy rollbacks and preserving whatever clean energy policies we can, Ecosperity Week was all about racing forward. Every plenary speech, panel discussion, and hallway pull-aside seemingly focused on how to deliver more finance to climate solutions, faster.
Given the attention on investment, it wasn’t surprising to see a strong emphasis on scaling carbon markets. What really stood out was the level of government engagement – countries like Singapore, the UK, and Kenya showed up in a big way, signaling real commitment to helping companies use high-quality credits to meet their climate goals.
The message at Ecosperity was clear: global demand for the energy transition is real, and the time to act is now. We need to mobilize the full range of climate finance tools – including by creating credible pathways for companies to invest in scaling clean energy systems. Energy transition credits – an emerging class of high-quality carbon credits – can provide one of those pathways.
Kinetic Coalition: A new approach to financing the clean energy transition
What brought me to Singapore was the opportunity to introduce the Kinetic Coalition, a new, independent initiative to help drive the transition to clean energy systems, led by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES).
Kinetic Coalition is a new way for companies to invest in scaling clean energy systems in emerging economies. It connects credit buyers with countries and projects that need catalytic capital to make the clean energy transition possible. By investing in high-integrity energy transition credits, companies can reduce emissions in their supply chains while supporting clean and reliable energy systems in emerging economies that benefit local communities.
Kinetic Coalition plays a three-part role to facilitate transactions:
- We identify projects and investment programs that can generate high-quality emissions reductions at scale, including asset-based projects (e.g., early retirement of coal-fired power plants and replacement with renewables) and sector-based approaches at the grid scale;
- We vet these opportunities for our buyers to ensure they will result in real, additional, and permanent emission reductions that avoid leakage and support economic, health, and environmental benefits in local communities; and
- We match corporate buyers to sellers, acting not as a principal or a broker, but as a neutral party, in partnership with counterparties and financial intermediaries.
Kinetic’s goals for 2025
According to the IEA, getting on track for net zero emissions by 2050 will require clean energy spending in emerging and developing economies to more than triple by 2030.
Kinetic Coalition addresses this urgent need for capital through an innovative approach that enables companies to create impact in a way no individual company could achieve alone, delivering reliable, affordable clean energy systems that bring economic, health, and environmental benefits to local communities.
This year, our focus is on proof of concept – mobilizing demand for high-integrity carbon and transition credits to finance an accelerated energy transition – starting with three pilots in the Philippines, Chile, and the Dominican Republic.
Kinetic Coalition is driving forward collaboration with prospective buyers and host countries, striving towards agreed-upon terms for pilot transactions for high-integrity energy transition credits between at least one project or program and Kinetic Coalition buyers in 2025.
Kinetic builds on C2ES’s track record of expertise and experience promoting high-integrity carbon markets, including as the Secretariat for the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA). The ETA defined the mechanism and early-stage approach, forged the first partnerships, and helped us understand the technical elements required to make progress in the emerging space of energy transition credits. Kinetic Coalition is the new, independent initiative focused on putting this conceptual work into action. Kinetic Coalition is about implementation.
Looking ahead
June is shaping up to be a busy month for Kinetic Coalition. We’re excited to be presenting on energy transition credits at the World Bank’s Innovate for Climate event on June 11th in Spain—a great opportunity for companies to learn more and get engaged.
Later in the month, during London Climate Week, we are partnering with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and their TRACTION initiative to convene companies to go deeper into energy transition credits and potentially start expanding our coalition.
Energy transition credits can accelerate the transition to clean energy systems for emerging economies, help companies reduce their supply chain emissions – and, most importantly, bring economic, health, and environmental gains to local communities. They offer an opportunity to achieve emission reductions at scale while benefiting companies and people – and Kinetic is excited to seize it.