The voluntary carbon market and sustainable development Summary

• The potential of the VCM in the sustainable transition is undermined by a lack of transparency in non-state actors’ climate mitigation strategies, including whether their use of credits represents additional action, and uncertainty over the quality of credits themselves. [...] The voluntary carbon market and sustainable development 2 Challenges for the VCM to overcome For the VCM to succeed, two related issues must be resolved. [...] The most prominent are the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) on credit supply, and the Voluntary Carbon and mechanisms Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) on credit demand (see Box 2 above). [...] within which the The Paris Agreement and the VCM VCM operates, The Paris Agreement’s rules and mechanisms form the context within which the VCM operates, even though the UN has no direct jurisdiction even though the over voluntary action. [...] Leading voluntary initiatives, chiefly the ICVCM, VCMI and the harness the VCM to SBTi, should develop clear, consistent and workable guidance that reconfigures the VCM and promotes integrated contributions to accelerate progress both climate mitigation and sustainable development.