SECRETIVE INTERMEDIARIES

This briefing by Carbon Market Watch highlights a critical transparency gap in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), where intermediaries—including brokers, exchanges, and resellers—often hide their fees and mark-ups. The report argues that aggregate market value figures are misleading because they do not distinguish between funds reaching project owners and profits captured by financial go-betweens. Based on research by AlliedOffsets, the document reveals that 90% of intermediaries do not disclose exact fees, and some brokers may resell credits for at least three times the purchase price. It concludes with recommendations for buyers, industry standards, and registry managers to mandate the disclosure of pricing and account holdings to ensure climate finance effectively supports mitigation action.

• Aggregate measures of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) size, such as the $2 billion market value, are insufficient for assessing climate impact because they track trade volume and price rather than the actual funds reaching mitigation projects.
• A review by AlliedOffsets found that 90% of VCM intermediaries do not disclose their exact fees or profit margins. Among the 10% that do, the average fee is 15.5%, though this is likely an underestimate as intermediaries with higher fees are less likely to publish them.
• Intermediaries may apply fees to prices that have already been marked up, potentially resulting in final prices that exceed 100% of what the project owner received. There is evidence of brokers reselling credits for at least three times the original purchase price.
• The VCM exhibits a geographical imbalance where most mitigation projects are located in the Global South, while the majority of intermediaries are based in the Global North, potentially reinforcing socioeconomic and geopolitical inequity.
• Lack of transparency regarding the use of revenues is identified as the primary obstacle preventing companies from increasing their use of carbon credits.
• Intermediaries in the VCM are categorized into four main types: exchanges (platforms connecting buyers and sellers), brokers (who sell for fees or mark-ups), online resellers (who sell project-specific credits, often to retail customers), and crypto operations (which transform credits into on-chain units).
• Data on VCM transactions remains highly opaque; in an analysis of 1,000 retirement events, only 81 provided clear information on both the buyer and the intermediary.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2023). SECRETIVE INTERMEDIARIES. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CMW-briefing-on-intermediaries-1.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. SECRETIVE INTERMEDIARIES. 2023. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CMW-briefing-on-intermediaries-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=SECRETIVE INTERMEDIARIES |date=February 2023 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CMW-briefing-on-intermediaries-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carbonmarketwatch2023secretive, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{SECRETIVE INTERMEDIARIES}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CMW-briefing-on-intermediaries-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }