The terms carbon offset and carbon offset credit (or simply “offset credit”) are used interchangeably, though they can mean slightly different things. A carbon offset broadly refers to a reduction in GHG emissions – or an increase in carbon storage (e.g., through land restoration or the planting of trees) – that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere. A carbon offset credit is a transferrable instrument certified by governments or independent certification bodies to represent an emission reduction of one metric tonne of CO2, or an equivalent amount of other GHGs (see Text Box, below). The purchaser of an offset credit can “retire” it to claim the underlying reduction towards their own GHG reduction goals.

The VCM (Voluntary Carbon Market) suffered a serious setback last year (2023) when media investigations into projects discovered serious defects within them. The industry is making significant changes to become much more credible, thereby making credits more valuable.

The Voluntary market was created primarily to enhance and support nature-based & technology-based projects by creating an investment base to grow these projects. Our efforts, along with many other groups, is to create transparency into the marketplace for creating many more projects to help remove carbon from our atmosphere.