EM Insights Brief: Closing the Carbon Offsets Issuances & Retirements Gap
State of the Carbon Offsets Standards’ Issuances & Retirements, 2021 Quarter 1
By Ecosystem Marketplace, a Forest Trends initiativeState of the Carbon Offsets Standards’ Issuances & Retirements, 2021 Quarter 1
Ecosystem Marketplace has aggregated data derived from standards’ registries, including Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard, American Carbon Registry, and Climate Action Reserve, Plan Vivo, and the California Air Resources Board to bring you the latest updates and historical roundup of independent and compliance offsets standards. Download now and stay tuned for the next EM Insights Brief on carbon offset buyers’ data from the 2020 EM Global Carbon Survey to be published at the end of April.
What’s inside? 2021 has already proven to be a landmark year in carbon markets. Our findings show compelling shifts, such as:
- Retirements surpassed issuances in January 2021 for the first time since 2017. The increase was primarily driven by forestry project retirements.
- VCS retirements have more than doubled, Plan Vivo nearly doubled, and Gold Standard increased by 40% compared to Q1 2020.
- Over two-thirds of the world’s issuances in Q1 2021 were located in the United States, India, Turkey, Cambodia, and China.
