The Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets announces Lindy Fursman as secretariat executive director ahead of Climate Week NYC

Former chief climate change advisor at New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment joins Coalition at critical moment for financing international climate action

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A former top climate advisor in New Zealand, Lindy Fursman, will join The Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets as executive director of its secretariat, the Coalition announced today.

Fursman previously served as chief advisor for climate change at New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment, before acting most recently as director for climate and energy policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, advising governments on climate mitigation, adaptation and energy transition policy.

The appointment was announced ahead of Climate Week NYC by the government-led Coalition, whose 14 member countries — Canada, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Switzerland, Türkiye, the UK and Zambia — represent more than a fifth of current global demand for carbon credits in voluntary markets.

Dr. Fursman joins the Coalition just two months before the UN’s climate talks, where the COP31 Presidency, held by Türkiye, has said it aims to ensure carbon credit markets fulfil their potential to deliver climate finance. The Coalition is preparing to release a policy playbook at the talks in Antalya to help guide the efforts of its members in accelerating demand for carbon credits.

“It’s a privilege to join The Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets at such a pivotal moment for international climate action. The Coalition is a one-of-a-kind initiative that aims to ensure businesses have the clarity they need to confidently invest in a market that can mobilise significant finance for emissions reductions and removals,” said Dr. Fursman.

“Governments hold the key levers that will lead this market to maturity. Robust, consistent, policy signals are key to unlocking untapped corporate demand for high-integrity carbon credits. My role is to help members of the Coalition navigate the path to implementing these policies.”

The announcement comes as analysis produced by the MSCI Institute, an official data provider to the Coalition, indicates that with more supportive government policies to stimulate corporate demand, global carbon credit retirements could quadruple by 2035.

In this scenario, annual carbon credit retirements could reach the equivalent of 845 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, comparable to taking 178 million cars off the road for a year. This would channel $21 billion per year by 2035 into projects that cut global emissions quickly and affordably while boosting growth. Corporate carbon credit retirements have held relatively flat at around 200 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions a year for the last five years.

Achieving maximum potential growth relies on governments setting clear expectations on the use of credits by companies, backed by consistent policies, incentives and guidance that help to de-risk investment in carbon credit markets, according to the MSCI Institute, which advances knowledge to tackle systemic challenges through global capital markets.

“Our analysis shows that carbon credit markets hold real potential for driving low carbon investment, and governments have a key role to play to support this growth,” said Guy Turner, Managing Director at MSCI Carbon Markets.

“The Coalition has the opportunity to stimulate a new era of globally-connected, liquid carbon credit markets in which governments provide the clarity and incentives, and companies provide the capital. The MSCI Institute is delighted to be an official data partner to the Coalition and to support its efforts to monitor impact over time.”

Carbon credit markets have the potential to help fund emissions cuts, unlock new economic opportunities and support local growth opportunities, helping to close the USD$1.3 trillion finance gap for climate action, but recent polling has indicated inconsistent policies have suppressed business demand.

Some 85 percent of companies recently surveyed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) said internationally aligned government policy would make it easier for their business to participate in carbon markets.

The Coalition’s forthcoming playbook will offer the most impactful options for policymakers to enact the Coalition’s Shared Principles, released last year, which provide a high-level framework for the role of carbon credits in supporting climate action.

“Carbon credit markets are poised to scale the finance needed by emerging and developing economies to achieve climate-positive growth and global net zero, said Ambassador Ali Mohamed, Kenya’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and Co-Chair of the Coalition

“The Coalition is committed to fulfilling this potential by unlocking corporate demand for high-integrity carbon credits, and I am delighted that Lindy is now at the helm of the team that supports this growing group of countries from around the world in this aim.”

Harvey Presence
Marchmont Communications
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