Voluntary carbon markets are essential for helping blunt a disastrous climate change trajectory, but more clarity and improved monitoring is needed, a new report says.
The Climate Crisis Advisory Group, an alliance of 17 specialists from 10 countries, issued the analysis in late June because its members see an urgent need to resolve problems besetting voluntary carbon markets.
Those markets generally are used by businesses to meet sustainability goals, because of shareholder demand, and to stave off government mandates. The investments in greenhouse gas reduction projects are sometimes called “buying offsets.”
But the markets have drawn criticism. One concern is that some projects don’t last while the carbon they’re supposed to displace is permanent.
