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Carbon offsets allow companies to offset some of their... emissions by paying for actions to cut emissions elsewhere. Each credit represents the reduction of one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions and can be used to meet corporate climate goals.

The VCM has endured tough years, and many expect the CCP-labeled credits to lead a better functioning market, with these offsets demanding higher prices.

We must stop treating the removal or avoidance of a ton of carbon as the market’s main goal. Instead, the market should channel money to sustainable, future-focused businesses and support governments tackling climate change.

In COP 27, Kenya's president promoted carbon credit as a significant export from the country. When the president of a country openly declares what a country's leading export is, you stop in your tracks and pay attention.

The guidelines issued... say that these credits should represent actual and additional reductions in carbon dioxide emissions... be permanent emissions reductions and be validated by an accredited and independent third party.

By the end of the decade, the number of carbon credits airlines will seek to offset their emissions could exceed the supply of high-quality credits fourteenfold.

Here are the top questions on the minds of corporate carbon credit purchasers -- and some answers.

The world faces a stark reality: thousands of companies have now made commitments to cut their emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Yet the money hasn’t followed.

In a South Pacific nation ravaged by logging, several tribes joined together to sell “high integrity” carbon credits... The project not only preserves their highly biodiverse rainforest, but it funnels life-changing income to Indigenous landowners.

The challenges to implementing the technology are immense. The world needs to capture more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030, more than 20 times the 45 million metric tons captured in 2022, according to the IEA.

"...It’s really a path forward for decarbonization because we can take CO2, which is a greenhouse gas, and turn it into things that are useful for chemical manufacture,”

ACMI’s prime target is to generate 300 million carbon credits and unlock 6 billion annual revenues by 2030. By 2050, ACMI is targeting over 1.5 billion annual credits, leveraging over $120 billion and supporting over 110 million jobs.

This model of mutually reinforcing public-private support is an important tool to commercialize carbon removal solutions.

"This is exactly what has to happen - this alignment with large industrial partners who have the capacity, the access to capital, the skills to actually scale DAC to a meaningful level," -CarbonCapture CEO Adrian Corless

"This is a crucial step in fostering a high-integrity voluntary carbon market and shows how corporate decarbonization and the use of VCMs can complement each other to accelerate the transition to net zero," VCMI executive director Mark Kenber said.

Investigations can be conducted on a number of fronts: whether carbon offset projects are valid, who is benefiting, and who is not.

So how are high-integrity carbon credits better? First, they must be tracked and disclosed, and then validated and verified by independent third parties.

“we don’t see a shift away from NBS, but rather a diversification... into Technology-Based Solutions due to affinity of big tech firms for technology, making them more willing and interested to invest in novel technologies such as DACs, BECCS, CCUS.”

National trading of the China Certified Emissions Reduction credits began Monday in Beijing, state-owned CCTV reported. Issuance of the credits was halted in 2017 to prevent surplus supply.

Switzerland has doubled down on its strategy to offset its emissions abroad. But after the latest round of UN climate talks in Dubai, questions continue to swirl around the details and effectiveness of carbon markets. A look at where things stand.

...Switzerland’s KliK Foundation, representing fuel importers, finalized the inaugural purchase of 1,916 carbon credits from Thailand’s Energy Absolute. This groundbreaking transaction demonstrates the potential of a nascent market for carbon credits

A Carbon Credit is an allowance for a company holding the credit to emit carbon emissions or greenhouse gases. A single credit equals one ton of carbon dioxide to be emitted or the mass equivalent to carbon dioxide for other gases.

Forests comprise approximately 750 million acres within the US, serving as the nation’s largest terrestrial carbon sink (an area with more carbon being stored than released), capturing and storing the equivalent of ~11.9% of U.S. carbon emissions.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will acquire carbon removal credits for a period of 15 years from Chestnut from trees planted in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

The new law imposes disclosure requirements... on California voluntary carbon offset marketers and sellers; California voluntary carbon offset purchasers and users; and entities operating in California making greenhouse gas related claims.

The market for carbon credits is projected to grow 50-fold within a decade, from nearly $2 billion in 2022 to nearly $100 billion by 2030, and as much as $250 billion by 2050, according to Morgan Stanley.

This innovative offering will be made available to market infrastructures, registry platforms, and other global service providers.

Amazon is expanding its investments in nature-based solutions that fight climate change with two new agroforestry projects in the Amazon Rainforest.

Concerns about market distortion from the policy intended to stimulate investment in the energy transition and signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022 are easing. Other countries are realizing they need to adapt the blueprint.

Climate scientists have demonstrated that at least 30 percent of humanity’s climate targets can be met by protecting and restoring nature — but meeting the target means restoring 200 million hectares (500 million acres) within the next seven years.

Verra is launching a public consultation on the ABACUS label, a new market label that can be applied to VCUs from projects validated and verified to Verra’s new ARR methodology if these units meet a set of key quality requirements.

Noya has developed low-power, modular units that can be combined to create facilities for removing millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Summit Carbon Solutions LLC is not giving up on obtaining the permits for a five-state, 2,000-mile CO2 pipeline on which it has sunk hundreds of millions of dollars... despite a competitor's decision to quit over the permitting uncertainty.

Brazil state-run oil firm Petrobras will use the 175,000 carbon credits it purchased last month to render carbon neutral around a year's worth supply of its premium gasoline, Gasolina Podium, a company executive said on Wednesday.

...these neglected and often despised new wildernesses could be a crucial part of the planet’s salvation. If only we noticed and tended them, [Daskalova] says, they offer great opportunities for meeting both climate and biodiversity targets.

Advancing sustainable farming means working to improve the way we measure both its financial and environmental benefits. This allows a stronger market to develop where farmers are compensated for transitioning to regenerative management. 

New research has revealed that the companies engaged in the voluntary carbon market are surpassing their counterparts in key areas of climate action, accountability and ambition, rather than simply using credits as a method to ‘buy their way out’.

Marciano Dasai, Suriname's minister of spatial planning and environment, spoke at Climate Week in New York and is pitching 4.8 million carbon offsets to the real heavy hitters — the rich nations responsible for most of the globe’s CO2 emissions.

“Anyone who has a concern for our climate should look at agriculture as one of the ways that we can help solve the problem.”

...scientists say that worldwide, it’s necessary to remove about 1 trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in this century to keep global warming below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set by the Paris Agreement...

...the Africa Union — comprised of 55 members — influenced the thinking of the G-20, the world’s most advanced countries. The continent is now part of the newly formed G-21. And sustainability is atop the economic bloc’s agenda.

During validation, a VVB checks whether the project plan meets VCS rules and requirements and approves the project description. After validation, the project can be registered under the VCS and be included in the carbon credit registry.

SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES— California carbon emissions are as valuable as they’ve ever been. Last week’s auction of greenhouse gas permits fetched $35.20 per ton, according to figures released by the state today.

Host governments should worry less about profiteering from carbon credit sales and focus on making their countries good places to invest in carbon projects – this is likely to bring greatest benefit to both the environment and their people.

...Kimmeridge proposes using a common scale to grade all types of projects. It compares voluntary carbon markets with the bond market, setting out a chain of four participants: regulator, auditor, rating agency and buyer pool.

Demand for carbon credits gets a boost as more standard-setting organizations and governments accept them as a way for companies to meet net-zero goals.

Amid the global energy crisis and economic issues, revenues from carbon credits traded in emissions trading systems (ETS) and carbon taxes hit record high in 2022 reaching almost $100 billion, per the World Bank carbon pricing report.

The Alaska House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow the state to set up a system for using state land to sell carbon-offset credits. The action amounted to final passage of the bill, which has been approved by the state Senate.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has opened a $2.25 billion funding program for carbon sequestration or CO2 capture and storage projects to more applicants after selecting the first batch of 9 winners with a $242 million funding round.