This report presents our advice to Government on how to respond to the risks and opportunities to Net Zero that are presented by voluntary carbon markets, in particular when they are used for \u2018offsetting\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":40635,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"publicationtype":[321],"countries":[320],"topic":[286],"class_list":["post-40633","publication","type-publication","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publicationtype-report","countries-country-0-uk","topic-people-and-business"],"acf":{"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"standard_block","subheading":"Outline","body_content":"This report looks at the evidence on the risks and opportunities presented by voluntary carbon markets and \u2018offsetting\u2019 to progress to Net Zero in the UK and beyond. Voluntary carbon markets are markets where carbon credits are purchased, usually by organisations, for voluntary use rather than to comply with legally binding emissions reduction obligations. Voluntary carbon markets are growing, driven in part by demand from businesses looking to \u2018offset\u2019 their emissions."},{"acf_fc_layout":"standard_block","subheading":"Key messages","body_content":"High-integrity carbon credits purchased by businesses can play a small but important role in supporting the transition to Net Zero. But before growing voluntary carbon markets, Government must put in place stronger guidance, regulation and standards to ensure purchase of carbon credits is not used as a substitute for direct business emissions reduction, and to improve the integrity and transparency of carbon credits. In the absence of these measures, there is a real risk that voluntary carbon markets slow progress towards Net Zero or damage other priorities such as climate adaptation and biodiversity.\r\n\r\nWe make three broad recommendations:\r\n