Carbon Market Watch response to the Consultation of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets

Carbon Market Watch expresses significant concerns regarding the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets' blueprint, stating that it risks creating a speculative financial market that benefits the financial sector more than the climate. The organization argues that scaling the market without first addressing systemic integrity issues, such as the lack of transparency and the use of low-quality offsets, could lead to widespread greenwashing and a net increase in global greenhouse gas emissions. It specifically opposes the use of biological carbon sinks for offsets due to non-permanence and measurement uncertainties, and rejects the introduction of core carbon spot and futures contracts as a means of increasing opacity.

• The Taskforce's focus on scaling the voluntary carbon market (VCM) primarily aims to increase trading volumes and financial sector participation rather than driving actual emission reductions.
• Land-based mitigation activities and biological carbon sinks, such as forests or soil, should not be used to generate carbon offsets because they cannot guarantee permanent carbon storage and are susceptible to baseline gaming.
• The proposal to introduce core carbon spot and futures contracts is rejected as it would create a financial asset without a clear underlying real-world asset, thereby increasing market opacity and facilitating speculation.
• There is a significant risk of 'double claiming' where emission reductions financed by private companies are also counted by host countries toward their Paris Agreement targets.
• The use of structured finance, such as loans collateralized by carbon credits, could lead to greenwashing and the creation of high-risk derivatives similar to the subprime mortgage crisis.
• Industry-wide collaboration to develop commitments based on offsetting is viewed as a potential tool for companies to lobby against more stringent climate regulations, such as the EU ETS.
• The organization supports the creation of an independent, non-commercial governance body to assess the quality of existing methodologies and projects, but opposes the creation of new 'core carbon principles' that might duplicate existing standards.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2021). Carbon Market Watch response to the Consultation of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Carbon-Market-Watch-response-to-the-Consultation-of-the-Taskforce-on-Scaling-Voluntary-Carbon-Markets.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Carbon Market Watch response to the Consultation of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets. 2021. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Carbon-Market-Watch-response-to-the-Consultation-of-the-Taskforce-on-Scaling-Voluntary-Carbon-Markets.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Carbon Market Watch response to the Consultation of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets |date=21 January 2021 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Carbon-Market-Watch-response-to-the-Consultation-of-the-Taskforce-on-Scaling-Voluntary-Carbon-Markets.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2021carbon, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Carbon Market Watch response to the Consultation of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Carbon-Market-Watch-response-to-the-Consultation-of-the-Taskforce-on-Scaling-Voluntary-Carbon-Markets.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }