(Originally published by Reuters on April 24, 2023)

In April, an independent council charged with giving integrity to carbon credits issued long-awaited principles intended to build trust and increase investment in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). The VCM is a means by which companies and individuals can offset their climate pollution by paying a third party to reduce or remove greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the atmosphere.

The VCM has been making headlines, with negative stories questioning credit quality and the use of proceeds (even talk show host John Oliver weighed-in). With the release of its Core Carbon Principles, the highly respected members of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) were striving for a resolution to what offset buyers and sellers see as the market’s biggest question: what credit-quality thresholds will mobilise finance?

(Continue reading the opinion essay on Reuters’ page here.)