Latest news with #carboncredits
Bloomberg
12 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
EU Set to Open Doors to Imported Carbon Credits Under 2040 Goal
The European Union wants to allow limited imports of carbon credits under a planned 90% emissions reduction goal for the next decade, in a bid to reduce the costs of its ambitious green shift and get member states on board. The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, is poised to propose that certain high-quality credits from a new United Nations-supervised mechanism can account for 3% of the pollution cut by 2040, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg News.
Bloomberg
18 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bill Winters Sees ‘Enormous, Untapped' Chance in Carbon Credits
Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters said financial markets are underestimating the business case for carbon credits, given the growing need among companies to offset their CO2 footprints. 'The enormous, untapped opportunity is the corporations of the world,' Winters said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's Francine Lacqua on Tuesday.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
COP30 host Brazil warns against over-reliance on carbon credits
BONN, June 26 (Reuters) - Countries should not over-rely on buying carbon credits to meet climate targets, the chief executive of this year's U.N. COP30 summit said on Thursday, as the European Union readies a new emissions goal that may include credits for the first time. The European Commission is due to propose a new EU climate target for 2040 on July 2, and has said the legally binding goal should be to cut emissions by 90%. But faced with pushback from some governments, Brussels is considering a lower target for domestic industries, and buying international carbon credits to make up the gap to 90%, Reuters has previously reported. They allow a country to buy "credits" from projects that reduce CO2 emissions abroad - for example, forest restoration in Brazil or Guyana - and count them towards its own climate goal. Proponents say this is a way to raise funding for CO2-cutting projects in developing nations. Opponents point to recent scandals, where credit-generating projects were found to not deliver the climate benefits they claimed. Ana Toni, CEO of the COP30 climate summit, which will take place in the Brazilian city of Belem in November, said Brazil did not oppose the use of carbon credits in countries' targets - known at the U.N. as nationally determined contributions - but warned against relying on them to meet a large chunk of a country's climate target. "The amount is important, because it shows how much you change in your own economy ... if it's really a big amount of (credits), you're not changing your own economy," she told Reuters. Toni also said countries must ensure any credits used to meet climate targets deliver quality environmental benefits. While the view of Brazil, as COP host, is not binding on delegations, it is responsible for guiding the negotiations at the gathering and also doing the diplomatic work to try to get countries to set ambitious goals. Nearly 200 countries faced a February deadline to submit their 2035 climate targets to the United Nations. Most, including the 27-country EU and China, missed it. The EU is expected to present its 2035 and 2040 climate goals together next week. EU countries are divided over how much of their 2040 target should be met through credits. Germany has proposed using credits to meet 3 percentage points of the 90% goal, while countries including France suggest a bigger share, officials said. EU members including Denmark and Finland say credits are not needed at all.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Courts pushing back on corporate carbon offsetting claims, LSE report finds
Judges across the world are proving sceptical of companies' attempts to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon credits, a report has found. In an analysis of nearly 3,000 climate-related lawsuits filed around the world since 2015, the latest annual review of climate litigation by the London School of Economics found action against corporations in particular was 'evolving', with growing scrutiny of how companies plan to meet their stated climate commitments. Dozens of legal challenges over the past decade have raised arguments related to carbon credits, and many have been successful. Last month, Energy Australia acknowledged that carbon offsets did not prevent or undo damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and apologised to its customers for allegedly misleading marketing. The announcement followed a greenwashing lawsuit brought against the energy company by a group of Australian parents, which was settled out of court. It was the first case in Australia to be brought against a company for 'carbon neutral' marketing, but only one of many across the world challenging similar claims in high-emitting industries. In October in the US, two residents of Portland, Oregon, sued the state's largest natural gas company, NW Natural, over its 'Smart Energy' offset scheme. Money from the scheme goes to methane digester projects at industrial dairy farms, which the residents say release significant amounts of greenhouse gases and therefore breach state rules prohibiting unfair and deceptive marketing claims. The company, which is also being sued by Multnomah County for allegedly sowing climate doubt, says it will defend itself 'vigorously' against the allegations. Cases such as these 'focus on the integrity of carbon credits and the claims that can be made regarding the carbon emissions of a product or service when credits are purchased to 'offset' emissions from that product or service', the LSE report found. Other lawsuits target companies and financial services that market themselves to sustainability-conscious consumers, challenging a lack of transparency or clarity. In Germany, greenwashing lawsuits have proliferated after a judgment last year against the sweet company Katjes. The federal court of justice ruled that the company's use of the term 'climate neutral' to market its fruit gummies was ambiguous because consumers could either interpret it as a real reduction in emissions while the sweet was being made or as the company having compensated for its emissions elsewhere. Katjes had done the latter, by buying CO2 certificates. In future, the German court concluded, companies could only use these kinds of terms if they were properly explained within the advert itself. These judicial decisions follow similar statements from advertising regulators and consumer protection bodies, which have been cracking down on dubious climate neutrality claims for several years. Some cases identified by the LSE report were criminal in nature, with at least three concerning allegations of carbon credit fraud in the US in 2024. One involved a former carbon offsetting executive accused of helping to manipulate data from projects in rural Africa and Asia. The LSE researchers said such litigation highlighted 'key challenges' in the operation of voluntary carbon markets, which have been beset by revelations that many of their credits do not represent genuine carbon reductions. Legal risks, stronger regulation of corporate activity in some parts of the world, and growing consumer awareness of the nuances of offsetting claims do seem to be influencing corporate decision-making. Analysis of company climate plans by Carbon Market Watch and the New Climate Institute showed nearly all relied heavily on offsetting in 2022, but their next Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor report, due in July, will chart a shift away from potentially misleading claims. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion 'Courts will continue to play a crucial role in clarifying legal boundaries for corporate responsibility in the context of net zero commitments,' the LSE concluded. While greenwashing lawsuits tend to focus on claims made by companies in their most lucrative markets in the global north, courts have also become involved in disputes over whether offsetting schemes themselves – many of which are in the global south – respect the rights of local communities. In January, a Kenyan court ruled in favour of a group of people in the northern county of Isiolo who contested the establishment of two conservancies within their communally owned land by the Northern Rangelands Trust and its associates for an offsetting scheme described as the 'world's largest soil carbon removal project'. The scheme, used by big companies including Meta, Netflix and British Airways, has long been under fire from Indigenous activists. And in Brazil the federal public prosecutor's office of the state of Pará recently filed a lawsuit against the federal government, the state of Pará and the Environmental Assets and Participations Company of Pará (Caapp), asking the federal court to immediately suspend and annul a contract for a massive carbon offsetting project. It was the latest move in a bitter argument around the $180m (£132m) deal between Caapp and a company representing the Leaf Coalition of corporate and government organisations. They aimed to sell carbon credits gained from reducing deforestation in the state, under a system called Redd+, to buyers around the world. The LSE report found a growing body of lawsuits in which vulnerable communities or environmental groups have challenged climate mitigation or adaptation projects based on fairness, procedural deficiencies or biodiversity harm. The authors wrote: 'Courts are being asked to arbitrate not only on whether governments and companies act on climate, but also how they do so.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GoNetZero™ and AlliedOffsets Partner to Help Businesses Navigate the Voluntary Carbon Market with Confidence
SINGAPORE and LONDON, June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- GoNetZero™, a global decarbonisation enabler in clean energy procurement and carbon management, announces a new strategic alliance with AlliedOffsets, the world's leading carbon market intelligence provider, to help businesses navigate the voluntary carbon market (VCM) with greater transparency, insight, and confidence. This partnership brings together GoNetZero's curated portfolio of verified carbon credits with AlliedOffsets' analytics platform, which tracks over 34,000 carbon projects globally. By uniting market access with deep data insights, the collaboration aims to help organisations navigate evolving VCM dynamics and make smarter, data-driven decisions that drive meaningful climate impact. "As organisations face growing pressure to back their climate claims with credible action, transparency and data have become essential," said Soon Sze Meng, CEO of GoNetZero. "This partnership will bring together GoNetZero's portfolio of verified carbon credits with AlliedOffsets' market intelligence, helping our clients evaluate carbon offsetting projects with greater clarity and confidence. It's about empowering organisations to make informed choices and drive impact at scale." Through this collaboration, GoNetZero's clients will gain deeper insights into VCM fundamentals – including pricing trends, issuance pipelines, co-benefit preferences, and buyer activity, helping them make better-informed procurement decisions. These insights will also enable clients to benchmark their offsetting and removal strategies against industry peers, enhancing both rigour and credibility in their corporate sustainability efforts. "GoNetZero and AlliedOffsets offer an end-to-end solution for companies that are looking to deliver high-integrity climate impact," said Anton Root, Co-founder at AlliedOffsets. "We're proud to be working with a partner like GoNetZero that shares our vision for a transparent carbon market." This collaboration also supports wider ecosystem engagement by creating more opportunities for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and alignment across the carbon value chain. In the autumn of 2025, GoNetZero and AlliedOffsets will co-host an Industry Day to convene carbon market participants, facilitate dialogue, and accelerate progress. Additionally, the two companies will launch a joint content series designed to guide emissions-intensive sectors on: Sector-specific trends across energy and technology/ telecoms. How to align carbon offsetting strategies with broader ESG goals, regulatory developments, and stakeholder expectations. How to identify high-integrity credits aligned with tightening VCM standards. For more information, visit and Media contact: press@ / Commercial contact: connect@ / hello@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE GoNetZero™ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
