Growing pains: Offset markets face challenges
Voluntary carbon markets’ growth challenges
Conference participants voice concerns over public perception and difficulties integrating carbon instruments into broad investment portfolios
The 20th anniversary of the US’ biggest carbon conference, North America Carbon World, was held in the last week of March. Participants celebrated the carbon offset industry’s growth from its early days but laid bare some of the challenges, to which there are no easy solutions, as it looks forward. The industry takes as an article of faith that carbon offsets should (and must) grow dramatically over the next decade. One strong indicator is the commitment from 4,750 companies to decarbonise in line with guidelines set by the independent Science Based Targets initiative. Conference participants also expressed the view that more disclosure (presumably Securities & Exchange Commission mandat
Also in this section
13 December 2024
Prices in world’s largest compliance market have risen this year but remain below those seen in the EU
11 December 2024
Policymakers need to step up with a long-term, global strategy if the energy transition is ever to be a success
11 December 2024
CCUS and other carbon management technologies are gaining traction around the world, but heightened policy risk and other pressures will make 2025 a challenging year in some regions
10 December 2024
Tightened standards have helped improve the outlook for the voluntary carbon market, which is set for a record year and poised for long-term growth
