Comparing carbon project headlines to our ratings

Over the last few years, carbon projects have seen their share of media headlines. The majority of these news articles have highlighted projects that failed to meet the promises they claimed. Frankly, these articles were not a surprise. When assessing carbon projects, we see some that make a real, meaningful impact, but we also review many that provide fodder for such headlines. 

As a carbon credit ratings platform, it is our job to reliably assess carbon project quality and communicate these findings to our subscribers. Our research and information help carbon credit buyers make choices that deliver on their climate goals while protecting their reputation. This is a responsibility we take seriously. The question becomes, how did we fare in identifying the issues that news outlets like Bloomberg, the Guardian and others have called out?

A sample of 30 recent media articles flagged issues with over 47 individual carbon projects. This number does not include broader categories of projects, such as project types or all projects issued under a specific methodology or carbon standard. Of those 47 projects, we had rated 37 of them. Among those Calyx Global reviewed, 20 projects had been flagged in the media for greenhouse gas integrity concerns. Of the 20 projects, 90% were rated by Calyx Global as E or E+ (the lowest ratings in our system). The remaining 10% received a D rating for at least one project vintage (year the carbon credit was generated). In these cases, we found significant GHG integrity risks that resulted in the projects’ ratings. 

We would like to think our work prevented multiple companies from being included in those headlines. Calyx Global’s rigorous and reliable frameworks, developed in collaboration with leading carbon methodology, project and climate experts, have been vital in enabling this consistency.

Headline carbon projects rated by Calyx Global

We must also recognize that Calyx Global does not always “get it right.” It would be arrogant to claim that we never make mistakes. We appreciate investigative journalism because it can uncover something we may have missed. We are continuously improving our ratings and learning from journalists, project developers, investors, academics and others who care about improving the VCM.

Should carbon credit buyers take these headlines to mean all carbon projects are bad? Certainly not. We see a range of quality across the carbon market today and a number of integrity improvements on the horizon. When looking at the project type that has been the subject of the majority of headlines — REDD projects — our analyses found over-crediting and permanence to be the most common roadblocks to higher integrity credits. We also see a path to higher quality for REDD credits as outlined in our “Turning REDD into Green” paper and are cautiously optimistic about Verra’s new REDD methodology.  

The increased scrutiny of the carbon market is a result of its success. Although carbon credits have been around for decades, the uptick in their popularity over the past five years has put the market in the spotlight, and rightly so. As a tool to combat climate change, we have to make sure it is sharp and effective. Unfortunately, not all articles will be balanced or fair. We would like to see more headlines that speak to the positive climate and community impact we find in some projects. However, critiques have also helped point the market toward multiple methodology improvements and increased due diligence. 

Calyx Global was founded because, after decades of working on carbon projects and purchasing carbon credits, our founders saw varying degrees of quality and experienced the difficulty of making high-integrity carbon credit purchases firsthand. Our mission is to move the market toward higher quality for people and the planet. We believe that a company offsetting its emissions with high-quality carbon credits results in a healthier planet, and doing so with low-integrity credits can have the opposite effect. We’re helping companies discern the difference and make more impactful choices.

For more information on our process for assessing the GHG integrity of over 600 carbon projects and counting, see The Calyx Global Approach to GHG Ratings or reach out to us.