CARBON MARKET WATCH’S FACT-CHECK OF VERRA’S RESPONSE A new investigation by Carbon Market Watch and the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) has found that two large-scale forestry projects in Colombia create more credits than the amount of emission reductions that they are achieving. Fossil fuel companies use these credits to avoid paying a…
Update 1 July: Verra published a statement in response to this report, questioning its findings and accusing it of using flawed methodologies. Our response to Verra is available here. Executive summary The Colombian government adopted a carbon tax of approximately US$5/tCO2e covering fossil fuels in 2016. Companies can avoid paying the tax by purchasing carbon…
This policy paper complements the briefing “A New Hope – recommendations for the EU Emissions Trading System review” Introduction: The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been hampered by a historical oversupply since its inception. Since 2019, some of the excess allowances are being absorbed by the Market Stability Reserve (MSR), and a portion…
Executive summary The Emissions Trading System (ETS) is a centrepiece of the EU’s climate policy and its main tool to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Europe’s industrial and power sectors. Until today, most of the emission reductions achieved under the EU ETS were driven by the power sector due to fuel switches in the…
Summary It is urgent to scale up private sector finance for climate action, but the current state of the voluntary carbon market is not fit for purpose. The TSVCM should first focus on addressing the serious quality shortcomings before the market can be scaled up. In particular, the future governance body of the TSVCM will…
This report by CE Delft was commissioned by Carbon Market Watch Summary This study has calculated the additional profits that sectors and companies have made from the EU ETS between 2008 to 2019 for the fifteen most CO2-intensive sectors plus aviation in nineteen EU countries. In our study we have investigated three types of profits:…
Executive summary Since its inception, the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS) has been giving free allowances to most energy-intensive industries deemed at risk of carbon leakage. “Carbon leakage” refers to a hypothetical situation where companies transfer production to countries with weaker climate policies in order to lower their costs. This policy briefing interprets the…
Views on enabling ambition in article 6 and transition of CDM activities to article 6.4 – June 2021 This submission is part of a series responding to the monthly calls from the SBSTA chair covering several aspects of Article 6. Carbon Market Watch’s overall perspective on Article 6 is accessible here. In previous submissions in…
Views on the rapid operationalisation of article 6 This submission is part of a series of submissions responding to the monthly calls from the SBSTA chair covering several aspects of article 6 The operationalisation of Article 6 should guarantee integrity, transparency and inclusiveness. Speed should not undermine the overall objective of contributing to the Paris…
An NGO statement on forests in voluntary carbon markets Summary Forest protection and restoration is in urgent need of increased financial support, but cannot be used to offset fossil emissions Financial contributions should be directed at jurisdictional programs addressing deforestation and forest degradation, rather than stand-alone projects, as they provide incentives for improved land use…
Carbon pricing 
International transport 
Climate governance 
Fair climate action