Traders in CO2 Credits Saddled With Vast Stranded-Asset Pile
- Media Manager
- Aug 21, 2023
- 1 min read
Bloomberg
Written By: Natasha White
Published: August 22nd, 2023
A number of major carbon traders are finding that offsets they bought may now be valueless.
It’s the latest in a string of cases in which traders handling carbon credits are having to treat such assets as stranded. Just over 75 million carbon credits currently lie dormant on the accounts of Vitol SA, the world’s largest independent commodity trader. And Dutch trader ACT Commodities Group BV and ACT Financial Solutions, which are both units of SMS Holding BV, last year wrote off about 1.5 million credits.
Since the first carbon credit was traded roughly 35 years ago, the market has been hit by a steady stream of scandals that have led to wild price swings and even collapsing valuations. That has implications not just for firms trading such credits, but also for companies that use them to underpin green claims to customers and regulators.
