Plant in cup with coins

New CMW study and SBTi assessment highlight risks associated with carbon offsetting

Fresh evidence published by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) confirms the unsuitability of carbon offsetting to meet emissions targets, echoing the findings of a new Carbon Market Watch study that casts doubt over the fairness of financial flows in the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Cardamom picking dance

More harm, more foul: Carbon crediting project exposes widespread human rights violations

Human rights violations committed against the Chong people in Cambodia are indicative of a wider malaise afflicting carbon crediting projects. Not only must the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities be safeguarded, they must also profit from fair benefit sharing arrangements.

COP28: Article 6 failure avoids a worse outcome 

Torn between countries demanding that Article 6 carbon markets be available with virtually no restrictions and countries insisting on upholding transparency, human rights, and climate ambition, negotiators at COP28 failed to break the deadlock. With all the unresolved problematic issues, the fact that they reached no deal was better than agreeing to a bad one that would torpedo the Paris Agreement.

A breath of fresh air or an ill wind: The human benefits and costs of decarbonising coal regions

With its focus on tonnes of carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere, the EU’s Emissions Trading System can appear to be technical and immaterial to most people. To uncover the human dimension of the EU ETS, with its challenges and opportunities, Carbon Market Watch and The Green Tank, visited Greece’s main lignite-producing region as it …

Greta Thunberg and other activists at the Bonn climate change conference

Penetrating the technical fog clouding Article 6 carbon markets

Following the technical deadlock and glacial pace of progress at the Bonn climate conference, negotiators need to get their act together before COP28. Climate commitments should shape the further development of carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, otherwise the environment and society will lose out.