The Biden-Harris administration has announced new principles for voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), underscoring its commitment to ambitious climate action. These guidelines aim to enhance the integrity and effectiveness of VCMs, ensuring they contribute meaningfully to decarbonisation efforts.
View of Yosemite National Park, United States. AI Generated picture.
President Biden's climate agenda, marked by historic investments like the Inflation Reduction Act, has already mobilised over $860 billion in clean energy and technology sectors. The new principles for VCMs are designed to further attract private capital to projects that reduce carbon emissions.
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The newly released guidelines, co-signed by key figures including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, focus on ensuring carbon credits represent genuine decarbonisation. They emphasise transparency, environmental justice, and the equitable distribution of revenue.
The administration aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The principles support these goals by promoting high-integrity carbon credits and include:
1. Carbon credits and the activities that generate them should meet credible atmospheric integrity standards and represent real decarbonisation.
2. Credit-generating activities should avoid environmental and social harm and should, where applicable, support co-benefits and transparent and inclusive benefits-sharing.
3. Corporate buyers using credits should prioritise measurable emissions reductions within their own value chains.
4. Credit users should publicly disclose the nature of purchased and retired credits.
5. Public claims by credit users should accurately reflect the climate impact of retired credits and only rely on credits that meet high integrity standards.
6. Market participants should contribute to efforts that improve market integrity.
7. Policymakers and market participants should facilitate efficient market participation and seek to lower transaction costs.
High-quality VCMs can drive significant progress, delivering steady revenue to projects that reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere. These projects range from nature-based solutions to advanced nature technologies.
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The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are among the agencies implementing these principles. DOE is advancing carbon removal technologies, while USDA supports farmers and forest landowners in generating high-integrity carbon credits.
Through these efforts, the Biden-Harris Administration is fostering a robust, transparent carbon market that supports economic growth and environmental sustainability, reaffirming the US as a leader in global environmental action.
Read more: 100 Reasons carbon credits are the best thing that ever happened to improve conditions on our planet
DGB Group strongly supports nature-based solutions, acknowledging them as the best way to protect and restore our natural environment. The voluntary carbon market provides a practical pathway for businesses to achieve their net-zero goals. However, sustainable long-term success in this market requires stringent regulations to promote transparency and integrity. DGB is committed to large-scale nature restoration through our nature-based solutions, enabling businesses, investors, and individuals to actively engage in preserving nature through our high-quality verified carbon units traded on the voluntary carbon market.
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