Accelerating Corporate Climate Finance through Carbon Markets

The report finds that while the VCM is viewed as a strategic tool for achieving net zero and incentivizing internal decarbonization, its growth is stymied by a lack of recognition from climate goal standard-setters and perceived reputational risks. Survey data suggests that if standard-setters like the SBTi recognized carbon credits and regulatory claims codes were adopted, corporate spending and the setting of ambitious emissions targets would increase significantly.

• The voluntary carbon market (VCM) supports corporate decarbonization by incentivizing internal investment in less carbon-intensive systems. Over 60% of VCM participants report that high-integrity, high-value credits encourage them to invest in decarbonization to reduce the volume of credits they need to purchase.
• Corporate participation in the VCM is limited by a lack of recognition from climate goal standard-setters, low transparency, and a lack of tangible business incentives. Specifically, 61% of respondents identified the lack of recognition by standard-setters as a leading challenge.
• There is a significant disparity in VCM spending based on company size. Large-sized companies (annual revenue of $20B or more) spend significantly more on credits and pay median prices per credit that are approximately twice those of medium companies and four times those of small companies.
• The absence of clear standards creates a risk of capital flight from climate finance. Some companies indicate that if standards like the SBTi's net zero standard are not amended to recognize credits, budgets previously allocated for carbon credits may be absorbed back into the business as budget savings rather than redirected to direct abatement.
• Hypothetical scenarios indicate that formal recognition of credits by standard-setters would drive higher ambition and spending. Under such a scenario, the percentage of respondents without near-term targets who would be likely to set them would increase from 32% to 50%, and average annual spend would increase by 9%.
• Mitigating reputational and legal risks associated with carbon credits would significantly increase market entry. In a scenario where these risks are mitigated, the proportion of non-participants likely to begin or resume purchasing credits would rise from 22% to 50%.

APA

Bennett, G., Hardcastle, D., Huenteler, H., & Pritchard, L. (2024). Accelerating Corporate Climate Finance through Carbon Markets. We Mean Business Coalition. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Accelerating-Corporate-Climate-Finance-through-Carbon-Markets.pdf

Chicago

Bennett, Gordon, Dale Hardcastle, Henning Huenteler, and Luke Pritchard. Accelerating Corporate Climate Finance through Carbon Markets. We Mean Business Coalition, 2024. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Accelerating-Corporate-Climate-Finance-through-Carbon-Markets.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bennett |first1=Gordon |last2=Hardcastle |first2=Dale |last3=Huenteler |first3=Henning |last4=Pritchard |first4=Luke |title=Accelerating Corporate Climate Finance through Carbon Markets |publisher=We Mean Business Coalition |date=March 2024 |url=https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Accelerating-Corporate-Climate-Finance-through-Carbon-Markets.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bennett2024accelerating, author = {Bennett, Gordon and Hardcastle, Dale and Huenteler, Henning and Pritchard, Luke}, title = {{Accelerating Corporate Climate Finance through Carbon Markets}}, institution = {We Mean Business Coalition}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Accelerating-Corporate-Climate-Finance-through-Carbon-Markets.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }