Will carbon markets go from a year of reckoning to one of redemption in 2024?
- Media Manager
- Jan 2, 2024
- 1 min read
Eco-Business
Written By: Samantha Ho
Published: January 2nd, 2024
After a year of intense scrutiny into the credibility of existing carbon credits and a continued lack of agreement over international carbon trading rules at the COP28 climate summit, carbon markets are striving to exit the doldrums.
The hard numbers are not out yet — Colin Moore, regional carbon advisor for Southeast Asia at the Wildlife Conservation Society says it will take several months before new and updated data can be accessed via published annual reports — but anecdotally, the uncertainty in the markets is still weighing on demand for carbon credits heading into 2024.
“We will have to wait for those reports to truly know [the extent of suppressed demand], but in terms of our projects and what we are hearing in the market, it has certainly had an impact [on carbon prices],” Moore told Eco-Business.
As an international non-governmental organization, WCS supports the development of nature-based carbon projects.
In 2023, carbon markets were defined from the get-go by a media report in January which alleged that the majority of carbon credits certified by standards setter Verra were “worthless”. This was followed by further revelations that one of the world’s largest nature-based projects led by climate consultancy South Pole had exaggerated how much carbon it offsets.
Fears of being called out for greenwashing led to withered corporate demand for carbon credits, with many “kicking the problem down the road rather than risk being criticized,” said Charles Bedford, founder and chief impact officer at Carbon Growth Partners, an international carbon investment management firm. “This was disastrous for climate, people and nature,” he told Eco-Business.
