In the fight against climate change, carbon markets are an important element of the drive to reduce emissions. Yet, while there is agreement about the desired outcomes of a functional carbon market, there is less consensus on the path, standards and infrastructure that will get us there.
Even if a sufficient system can be established, without a strong registry infrastructure, these carbon offsets are open to double counting. And with the competing public and private registries battling for dominance, the potential for double counting is high because these registries aren’t interoperable, they simply don’t “talk” to one another.
Double counting is symptomatic of the problems of the existing global carbon markets. Governments want to keep carbon removal credits within their borders to ensure they don’t exceed emissions thresholds, as determined by their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). At the same tiem, the producers of the credits want to sell them on the global market.
In order to solve this problem, a network of third-party meta registries has emerged. In theory, these registries should ensure a carbon credit can function as a trustworthy offset commodity but they often lack a shared record of transactions and ownership.