Voluntary Carbon Markets

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Crystal world globe laying on miss surface

Denmark’s unprecedented carbon removals fund has facilitated the coexistence of corporate and national carbon claims in carbon accounting.

By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Paul A. Davies, Lars Kjølbye, John-Patrick Sweny, and Qingyi Pan

In the past few years, stakeholders in the carbon market have debated how to integrate the voluntary carbon market (VCM) and the emerging international carbon market governed by the Paris Agreement — Denmark’s recent move to allow stacking of voluntary carbon credits and nationally determined…

Coastal Temperate Rain Forest

The joint policy statement and principles provide integrity standards for carbon credits that both the US government and participants in the voluntary carbon market should aim to follow.

By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Michael Dreibelbis, Tal Carmeli, and Phil Goldberg

On May 28, 2024, the Biden Administration released the Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy Statement and Principles for Responsible Participation in Voluntary Carbon Markets (the VCM Policy). The VCM Policy is co-signed by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, International Climate Policy Senior Advisor John Podesta, National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi.

The VCM Policy represents the executive branch of the US government’s position with respect to the role of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in supporting decarbonization efforts in the United States and globally. This announcement is significant and timely because it was released at a time when some have questioned whether voluntary carbon credits are an appropriate tool for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Muir Woods

The Supervisory Body published the Methodology Guidance and the Removal Guidance to be presented for discussion in COP28.

By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Paul A. Davies, Joshua T. Bledsoe, Michael Dreibelbis, Qingyi Pan, and Brett Frazer*

After two years of discussion, the Supervisory Body (SB) responsible for determining the guidelines for Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement published two sets of recommendations, which will be presented for consideration and adoption by the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) at the 28th annual Conference of Parties (COP28).

The first recommendation came on November 16, 2023, when the SB published guidelines on the requirements for the development and assessment of Article 6.4 mechanism methodologies (the Methodology Guidance).[i] The second recommendation followed the next day, when the SB published guidelines on activities involving removals under the Article 6.4 mechanism (the Removal Guidance).[ii]

The Claims Code seeks to ensure the integrity of voluntary carbon markets to support achievement of the Paris Agreement goals.

By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Paul A. Davies, Sarah E. Fortt, Betty M. Huber, Alicia Robinson, and Deric Behar

The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity (VCMI) Initiative is “a multi-stakeholder platform to drive credible, net-zero aligned participation in voluntary carbon markets.” The VCMI Initiative, for which the UK government announced its support in March 2021, is co-funded by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. A central objective of VCMI is to issue guidance for companies and other non-state actors on how carbon credits can be voluntarily used and claimed as part of credible net zero decarbonization strategies. To further this objective, VCMI published for public consultation a Provisional Claims Code of Practice (Claims Code) on June 7, 2022.