Demand for low-quality offsets by major companies undermines climate integrity of the voluntary carbon market

Abstract

Most companies include carbon offsets in their net-zero strategy. However, many offset projects are poor quality and fail to reduce emissions as claimed. Here we focus on the twenty companies retiring the most offsets from the voluntary carbon market over 2020–2023. We examine if their offsets could be considered high quality and likely to benefit the climate. We curate an original company-level dataset to examine quality and climate benefits across four dimensions: (1) use of offsets from low/high-risk project types; (2) age of projects and credits; (3) price of credits; and (4) country of implementation. We find that companies have predominantly sourced low-quality, cheap offsets: 87% carry a high risk of not providing real and additional emissions reductions, with most offsets originating from forest conservation and renewable energy projects. Further, most offsets do not meet industry standards regarding age and country of implementation. These findings provide further evidence that the voluntary carbon market is not supporting effective climate mitigation. Particularly, we show that its persisting quality issues are exacerbated by the demand for low-quality offsets by individual companies. Trencher and colleagues investigate the twenty companies making the largest purchases of offsets from the voluntary carbon market from 2020 to 2023. They find that 87% of the purchased offsets carry a high risk of not providing real and additional emissions reductions. Further, most offsets do not meet industry standards regarding age and country of implementation. The findings reinforce concerns that the voluntary carbon market is failing to support effective climate mitigation.