Voluntary carbon market to grow rapidly

A global initiative was launched on Thursday to bring transparency and rigour to the voluntary carbon market that is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years as countries and companies strive to meet climate targets.

Offsets, generated through emission reductions such asplanting trees or switching to less polluting fuels, currently trade in a voluntary market, often on a project-by-project basis with different standards and approaches.

The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI)aims to ensure carbon offsets are underpinned by real actions toreduce greenhouse gas emissions and help developing countriesaccess climate finance generated by the market.

It is sponsored by Britain and the philanthropic Children’sInvestment Fund Foundation, and has the backing of severalgovernments including the United States.“There are lots of people jumping into the voluntary market now without a broad consensus or agreement on assurance and integrity,” VCMI co-chair Rachel Kyte said.

A task force created to scale up the voluntary carbon market has said the market will need to grow 15-fold to meet goals set under the Paris Agreement and could be worth as much as $50 billion by 2030.