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Banks, regulators and top officials at the COP28 climate summit have thrown their weight behind efforts to revive the global trade in voluntary carbon credits, battered by allegations of a lack of credibility.
Independent certification bodies that have suffered from a collapse in the market have also joined the effort. One of the organisations, Verra, said it would aim to meet standards laid out by the independent governance body, the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets.
In theory, each credit represents a tonne of carbon avoided or removed from the atmosphere, but the lack of verification and credibility of the credits has undermined the system.
Conservation projects that aimed to reduce deforestation relative to a hypothetical future scenario in which trees are chopped down, for example in Zimbabwe and Peru, have faced particular scrutiny over accurately accounting for the carbon saved or emissions avoided.