Carbon offset certifications and registries

Offsets came into being under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) defined by the Kyoto Protocol and were regulated by the United Nations. Unfortunately, this did not warrant a guaranteed quality for offsets sold under the CDM, and there was a general lack of transparency of the offsets meeting the required standards of additionality, durability and credibility.

CDM credits of earlier vintages are nowadays perceived as “low-quality” and there is a large supply overhang of such credits on the market depressing overall prices.

Other voluntary carbon offsets are all privately regulated. There is not one global standard, but a number of registries and standards have evolved which more or less “guarantee” the offsets quality and advertise a variety of co-benefits.

The largest registries today are the Gold Standard, established by the WWF and other NGOs and the Verified Carbon Standard, Verra (VCS). Especially the Gold Standard is a higher quality standard, working towards the Sustainable Development Goals and offers credible offsetting under a well recognized standard.

Verra, established in 2005 by the Climate Group NGO, the World Economic Forum and several other organizations, is more of a mass-market standard, which is also widely recognized but was in the past reported to have quality issues (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/04/carbon-offsets-used-by-major-airlines-based-on-flawed-system-warn-experts).

Other major registries are the American Carbon Registry, the oldest voluntary carbon offset standard established in 1996 and the Climate Action Reserve, which is also approved for offsetting emissions under the Californian Cap and Trade compliance market. The Climate Action Reserve offsetting methodology is validated by VCS.

Another smaller registry is Plan Vivo, which emphasizes co-benefits for smallholder communities and is generally regarded as one of the highest quality standards.

Other high quality offset registries are the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code and the Peatland Code, which offer offsets to the private sector which are counted towards the UK’s National Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.