On World Environment Day, the Argentine Carbon Exchange (BACX) formally launched its operations in Argentina today at its Buenos Aires offices, launching its digital platform designed as an innovative tool to facilitate and increase transparency in trading transactions within the voluntary carbon market. With this platform, BACX will operate in the Argentine voluntary carbon market through a fully digital system that allows for the listing and trading of verified carbon credits that meet all international standards, guaranteeing transparency and traceability. "By facilitating the buying and selling of these verified credits, BACX seeks to open a strategic avenue for Argentina to generate foreign currency from a new financial asset," said Alejandro Guerrero, CEO of BACX.
He further explained that the platform's operating model relies "on strategic partners such as ACX and Lockton, who contribute specialized knowledge in areas such as trading, risk, market scalability, and financing." The executive also detailed that BACX aspires to become "the entity that drives the development and promotion of national projects, operating as an instrument that collaborates with Argentina's productive and competitive development, and serving as a bridge between climate action and investment needs." For her part, Aleandra Scafati, Vice President of BACX and a renowned specialist in carbon markets, noted: "The global voluntary carbon market offers great opportunities at this time of international decisions, and Argentina, if it adequately addresses its challenges, has a strong chance of capitalizing on them." According to Scafati, the launch of BACX "aligns with the country's National Strategy for the Use of Carbon Markets (ENUMeC), which envisions the use of these markets to achieve its climate goals." Meanwhile, Adrián Cosentino, Director of BACX, described the technical aspects and legal safeguards of the platform, highlighting its adherence to international standards for security, governance, and risk mitigation mechanisms. Cosentino explained that the platform is designed to ensure that every carbon credit trading transaction is "transparent, traceable, and verified under the most representative international standards globally."
“We are making the most secure and reliable technology in the world available to the national market to guarantee the governance of financial operations,” he added. During the event, a live demonstration of account opening and a digital purchase and sale transaction was conducted. BACX also presented three Argentine carbon certification initiatives that will use its platform to transact their issued credits.
The cases presented were: the forestry company Unitán, with credits for its operations in Chaco and Formosa; Nideport, with a Nature-based Solutions project in Misiones; and the Province of Misiones, which became the first subnational jurisdictional project to advance in the certification of reduced deforestation and degradation of native forests in the Province. Furthermore, according to Argentina's First Biennial Transparency Report (IBT1) published in December 2024, the outlook for the Argentine voluntary carbon market is as follows:
- Argentina's total net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2022 were estimated at 400,920.59 ktCO2e.
- The main contributing sectors were Energy, Agriculture/Livestock and Land Use/Forestry.
- Argentina has updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) with a more ambitious mitigation target, using annual net emissions as an indicator.
- The IBT1 also highlights the need to improve capabilities to access carbon markets.
- Argentina has an indicative target of 372 MtCO2e for 2025 in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
- Argentina has 60 projects registered in public standards and databases for the certification and verification of mitigation results, including Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).