Sylvera, the carbon data provider, reviewed the state of carbon credits in 2024. Published in January 2025, this report highlighted the differing perspectives of market participants during the previous year. Some players were excited by Article 6 progress and new methodological approvals from the ICVCM. Others remained unconfident both in credit quality and in the likelihood of future demand. However, it concludes that the carbon markets are going through a gradual but significant time of change.

In January 2025, AlliedOffsets reviewed the trends observed in the voluntary carbon market over the past twelve months. It reported rising interest in engineered removal credits and more offtakes of nature-based solutions. It also found there has been a 33% drop in low-quality credit retirements since 2020.

Pachama published a review of the carbon markets in December 2024. Looking back at the previous 12 months, this report discusses the debate over using carbon credits for Scope 3 emission mitigation, the scientific evidence on the importance of conserving forests, the rush for removals and the emergence of tech for risk mitigation.

In December 2024 Everland released a whitepaper on REDD+ projects. It assessed the baseline forest loss projections of 45 REDD+ projects and compared these baselines to the actual levels of forest loss that took place. It concludes that when you consider the 20-year history of REDD+, this carbon crediting approach has been robust.

This website, Carbon Paradox, launched in December 2024. It addresses 24 paradoxes of carbon markets and considers the nuanced issues that could prevent or enable its scaling. Making interesting reading for all market stakeholders, the website covers topics including baselines, additionality, perfection and standards.

Sylvera published a paper on climate and corporate strategy in December 2024. In the UK, the new Labour government committed in their manifesto to mandating all FTSE 100 companies to develop and implement ‘credible’ net zero transition plans. Although the paper found that 9 in 10 companies in the UK and US have increased their investment in net zero initiatives in the last two years, 24 percent of those surveyed are very concerned about the brand and reputational damage associated with net zero missteps.

In December 2024, The Nature Conservancy summarised the progress toward finalising Article 6 during COP29 to establish rules for international carbon markets under the Paris Agreement. The guidance details the operationalisation of Articles 6.2 and 6.4 which enable countries to scale up mitigation and mobilise climate finance for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The document highlights tasks for the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body and anticipates future refinements to the framework.

Patch, the carbon platform, published a guidance report for the demand side of the carbon markets in November 2024. The organisation spoke with hundreds of carbon credit buyers to find out what challenges they face – and how they are solving them. The report found that of the 100 biggest carbon credit buyers, only 15 percent have a dedicated carbon team. However, it takes the average buyer 53 hours to complete a comprehensive due diligence review.

In May 2021, Nature published a comment piece by several leading academics specialising in natural climate solutions. They made the case that nature-based solutions can help cool the planet if the world harnesses this potential now while simultaneously drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It breaks down natural global temperature cooling into three categories: protecting, managing and restoring and shows the mitigation potential of each. It assesses the potential of nature-based solutions to reduce global heating under a 1.5, 2 and 3-degree trajectory.