The Global Voluntary Carbon Market: Dealing with the Problem of Historic Credits

This report originally appeared on trove-research.com. MSCI acquired Trove Research — now known as MSCI Carbon Markets — in November 2023.

Established over a decade ago, the market for carbon credits (often referred to as the voluntary carbon market), is undergoing a surge of interest. It is used by firms as a method for offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions by purchasing credits from projects around the world that reduce emissions going into, or remove carbon dioxide from, the atmosphere. Projects include wind or solar farms, protecting existing forests or growing new trees.

This report looks at the likely future demand for carbon credits to 2050 and how thousands of seemingly well-intentioned companies looking to offset their emissions risk being undermined by a surplus of older credits still in the system. The report also discusses mechanisms for how this issue could be managed going forward.