Global standards launched to boost $2 bln voluntary carbon market

A global initiative designed to grow the $2b market for carbon offsets outlined criteria for new voluntary standards on Thursday, and hopes to issued labelled credits by the end of the year to bring transparency to the unregulated marketplace. Demand for carbon offsets - credits for emissions-reducing activity that can be generated through projects such as tree planting - is expected to grow as companies with net-zero goals buy them to cancel out emissions elsewhere. But the market is unregulated, with many different standards and approaches making it difficult for companies to assess which credits they should use. Critics of the market cite concerns including poor transparency and questions over the environmental quality of projects. The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), an independent governance body for the market, has published its criteria for projects to achieve its new Core Carbon Principle (CCP) standards. The criteria "set a global threshold for quality which aims to unlock finance at speed and scale for projects to reduce and remove billions of tonnes of emissions that would not otherwise be viable," said Integrity Council Chair Annette Nazareth in a statement. The most widely traded offsets standards are those deemed eligible under the CORISA scheme set up for the global airline industry.<br/>