Cooking the climate books: New peer-reviewed study finds carbon credit impact vastly overstated

Over 80% of carbon credits issued by more than 2,000 projects have a much lower climate impact than they claim, a new meta study finds. This has serious implications for the role of carbon markets in combating the climate crisis. The peer-reviewed paper, whose lead author was Benedict Probst of the Max Planck Institute appeared …

VCMI’s new framework needlessly endangers its credibility

The Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity initiative’s latest guidance on the use of carbon credits by companies undermines VCMI’s stated mission of combating greenwashing and setting out a framework for making valid climate claims.  Last year, VCMI published its long anticipated Claims Code of Practice, which provides guidance for companies on how to use carbon credits …

Nothing Ahead, Pexels

Due south: Geographic disparity of project actors in the voluntary carbon market

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is often championed as a key tool for combating climate change and funding climate mitigation projects, especially in economically disadvantaged regions like Africa. Despite Africa’s minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, the continent is heavily impacted by climate change. Recently, the number of VCM projects on the continent has increased …

Hidden in plain sight: Flawed renewable energy projects in the voluntary carbon market

Whilst REDD+ credits have been the subject of intense media and civil society scrutiny, the same cannot be said of renewable energy projects, which are plagued by similar issues when used for offsetting, yet manage to hide in plain sight. Serious concerns exist regarding the use of renewable energy projects to generate carbon credits. Those …