Commissioned by Carbon Market Watch and conducted by AlliedOffsets, this report explores the role of intermediaries in the voluntary carbon market. It seeks to determine how much of the money flowing through these markets reaches climate projects on the ground and how much is intercepted by intermediaries as fees and mark-up to fatten their profits. The report identifies a dearth of information on the details of carbon credit trades and a lack of transparency on the part of intermediaries.

“This means that it is often impossible for a buyer, let alone an external observer such as a journalist or consumer, to know how much of the money paid to purchase a carbon credit will benefit the climate and how much will profit brokers, exchanges, resellers and other intermediaries,” an accompanying Carbon Market Watch briefing concludes. The briefing sets forth a number of recommendations for dealing with and eliminating this opacity.