Voluntary carbon market faces credibility challenge

To reach maturity critics need to be convinced that decarbonisation is meaningful and permanent

The buzzword in energy and climate circles over the past year has no doubt been ‘net-zero’. More and more companies and countries are making commitments to reach net-zero emissions by the middle of this century, pledging to help achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Climate experts say that, to achieve this, emissions need to be cut until as much activity as possible—transport, power and industry—has been fully decarbonised. After that any remaining, unavoidable emissions will need to be offset by reducing or even removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since technologies to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently store it are still in their relative infancy,