Platts proposes to change Korean Offset Credit specifications to align with new regulation

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, proposes that specifications for the Korean Offset Credit (KOC) Carbon Markets assessment beginning Jan. 2, 2024, will change in line with the rules set out by the South Korean Ministry of the Environment.

KOCs are Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Paris Agreement-compliant and initially reflected rolling three-year vintages, with each KOC expiring on the last working day of the calendar year.

The Ministry of Environment announced new rules in September, under which KOCs would be valid for five years instead of three years, as previously.

Under the existing methodology, the daily Platts assessment reflects the KOC expiring at the end of the calendar year. For example, this meant that on March 1, 2023, Platts would assess KOC 21-23, which would expire at the end of 2023. On Jan. 2, 2024, the daily Platts assessment would reflect KOC 22-24.

As a result of the new rules, KOC21-23 will convert to KOC21-25 and will expire at the end of 2025. Similarly, KOC22-24 will convert to KOC22-26 and KOC23-25 to KOC23-27.

In view of this change, Platts proposes to start assessing the most competitive of the most fungible KOCs trading in the market rather than the current year credit that was previously being assessed.

The daily assessment for the KOCs reflects the most competitively priced bids, offers and trades for both domestic and international offset credits under rules in line with the government regulations.

The unit of assessment is Won/mtCO2e, where one KOC, when retired, offsets the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide or equivalent.

This assessment is published in the Platts Carbon Markets Daily, on Platts Carbon Markets Alert and Energy Transition Alert, and in the Platts Pricing Database under the market data category ACM.

The assessment is published under the following symbols:

Please send any further feedback or questions on this launch to Platts_Carbon@spglobal.com and PriceGroup@spglobal.com by Jan. 15, 2024.

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