Voluntary carbon markets let a company emissions it has not reduced.
The theory is straightforward and the accounting is not.
A credit must represent a reduction that is additional, permanent and not counted twice.
is the hardest of the three to prove.
It requires a claim about what would have happened otherwise, which no one can observe.
Investigations of forest projects found that many protected land under no real threat.
fails in a different way, since a protected forest can burn ten years later.
exist for that risk, and several have been drawn down faster than modelled.
The market responded to the criticism by tightening standards rather than closing.
Prices for high- credits have risen sharply while cheap credits have become unsellable.
That separation is healthier than a single average price.
Removal credits, which take carbon out of the air, are now distinguished from avoidance credits.
Removal is measurable and expensive; avoidance is cheap and depends on a .
Regulators are converging on a simple rule for corporate claims.
may be described as a contribution to climate finance, but not as a reduction the company achieved.