Position Paper on Carbon Credits - November 2023

The voluntary use of carbon credits¹ has existed since the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto protocol which operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). [...] The broader carbon credits landscape is beginning to adopt this stance, including the Oxford Offsetting Principles, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), and by the UN High-Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities (UN HLEG). [...] The 10 principles are structured around requirements for the governance of carbon-crediting programmes, the emissions impact of the mitigation activity and ensuring positive sustainable development impacts and contributions to net-zero. [...] First and foremost, the additionality6 of projects should be assessed to ensure the project activity would not have occurred in the absence of revenue from carbon credits. [...] account for issues specific to project types highlight the need CDP has also begun to request Data from 2022 highlights how for additional due diligence by details on the quality of the varied the field of carbon credits companies purchasing credits.