The standards bodies operating in the voluntary carbon market must ensure that climate projects take the rights and concerns of local and indigenous communities into account and offer them avenues for redress. A review conducted on behalf of Carbon Market Watch found that only one standard body, Gold Standard, provides appropriate recourse to file grievances …
Read more “Blocked avenues for redress: Shedding light on carbon market grievance mechanisms”
Despite the role voluntary carbon markets are meant to play in financing climate action, the exact amount of money reaching climate projects and local communities is shrouded in mystery, while nine out of 10 intermediaries do not disclose their fees or profit margins, a new study commissioned by Carbon Market Watch reveals.
The purchase of carbon credits through the voluntary carbon market is widely considered to be an effective way to channel finance towards climate action. However, despite years of existence and the recent hype surrounding voluntary carbon markets, no public research exists to assess how much VCM finance is actually reaching climate mitigation projects and local …
Read more “Secretive intermediaries: Are carbon markets really financing climate action?”
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.
Voluntary carbon market standards promising tonne-for-tonne compensation and exact measurement of impact are attempting to square the circle, argues Gilles Dufrasne. One solution is to drop offsetting claims and offer credits as financial contributions to climate action. Last week marked the closing of the public consultation on quality criteria for carbon credits by a new …
Read more “Scale vs integrity: The impossibility of developing a large market of high quality carbon offsets”
Carbon Market Watch welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the IFRS S2 Climate-related disclosures standard. We focus below on questions 5, and 10 which cover the topics of target setting and reporting of information related to corporate climate mitigation action.
Verra is proposing to introduce tonne-year accounting, a method whereby it would issue credits representing the permanent storage of 1tCO2 to projects that store carbon temporarily. Each tonne sequestered for one year would be worth one “tonne-year” and one hundred tonne years would make up one carbon credit. For example, storing 1 tonne for 100 …
Read more “Carbon Market Watch response to Verra’s proposed “tonne-year accounting” method”
A proposed carbon offsetting project in Papua New Guinea, which has been labelled a “scam” by a local politician, appears to be of questionable environmental benefit and has seemingly failed to consult with local communities sufficiently and transparently, a Carbon Market Watch analysis concludes.
Kanaka Management Services Private Limited, a project developer, has proposed a Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) project entitled ‘REDD+ Project in Oro Province of Papua New Guinea‘. If approved, this proposed project would be the second largest Verra VCS project, generating 8.1 million credits annually for 100 years. The proposed project was open for public …
Read more “Comments on proposed Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) project for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradations in Papua New Guinea”
