This joint letter urges the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to refrain from granting companies the “flexibility” to offset a portion of their scope 3 (indirect value chain) emissions. “This approach is counterproductive, and largely backed by actors with direct financial interests in …
Read more “Open letter on the use of carbon credits to meet scope 3 GHG targets”
This analysis assesses the public availability of project documentation across the four main voluntary carbon market registries: Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard (GS), American Carbon Registry (ACR), and the Climate Action Reserve (CAR). These standards were selected as they collectively issue the majority of the world’s (voluntary market) carbon credits.
Motivated by a desire to keep down the cost of achieving its climate targets, the EU has failed to rule out the double counting of emissions reductions under its Carbon Removals Certification Framework. By so doing it is undermining established standards and its own policies.
Carbon Market Watch welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the United States’ Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed guidance on the voluntary carbon market (VCM). Regulating financial transactions in the VCM, including but not limited to futures transactions, is important to plug some of the most gaping holes in the current VCM infrastructure. Financial …
Read more “Carbon Market Watch response to the CFTC’s proposed guidance on Voluntary Carbon Credit Derivative Contracts”
Our latest FAQ has the answers to everything you always wanted to know about global carbon markets
This guide gives an introduction to the current state of international carbon credit markets. It lays out key elements of the newly established markets under the Paris Agreement, and the functioning of the voluntary carbon market, which operates outside of the UN system. It concludes with a discussion of the role of these mechanisms in climate action, and how they should and should not be used.
In response to Gold Standard’s consultation on its proposed methodology for a just transition through the early phase out of coal-fired power plants, Carbon Market Watch submitted this response.
Despite the wishful thinking of champions of carbon offsetting at COP28, the voluntary carbon market will only play a role in tackling the climate crisis with stricter standards and greater transparency.
A spate of recent studies are being used to claim a causal link for companies that offset their emissions between their use of carbon credits and their rate of internal decarbonisation. However, the available evidence tells a different story about whether or not companies exploit carbon markets as a licence to pollute.
This collaborative submission on the effectiveness of Environmental Attribute Certificates was sent to the Science-Based Targets Initiative. It consists of 45 pieces of evidence, delivered in nine separate submissions (of five pieces of evidence each). This submission is a collaboration between Carbon Market Watch and NewClimate Institute. All pieces of evidence submitted are in …
Read more “Response to the SBTi call for evidence on the effectiveness of Environmental Attribute Certificates in climate targets”
