Oeko-Institut joins international governance body on voluntary carbon market

Today, the Oeko-Institut becomes a founding sponsor of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Markets. In the voluntary carbon market, companies or individuals can offset their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in climate mitigation projects. However, currently not all offsetting measures actually contribute to climate mitigation.

The new committee has therefore set itself the goal of transforming the voluntary carbon market so that it makes an effective contribution to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Emerging from the "Task Force on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets", the so-called "Governance Body" will focus on developing minimum standards for the quality of carbon credits.

Towards this end, an expert panel will be set up, co-chaired by Dr. Lambert Schneider, Research Coordinator for International Climate Policy at the Oeko-Institut. "Currently, the quality of carbon credits varies considerably in the voluntary offset market," says Lambert Schneider. "The introduction of international quality criteria is a critical step for bringing greater integrity and quality in to the market. Defining robust quality standards will be crucial to achieve this."

Further information to „Governance Body“ on the site of the taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets and on the Council's website.