A group of seven European states has issued a joint statement to support voluntary carbon credit purchases and guide buyers on CO2 offset claims.
The group — comprising Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands — notes that the "voluntary use of high-integrity carbon credits can play a role in supporting faster and
more ambitious climate action" and proposes six recommendations to improve integrity and transparency within the voluntary carbon market and help buyers' strategies in line with the Paris agreement.
The first three recommendations focus on how companies should share all their Scope-1,2 and 3 emissions and publicly disclose a climate target, ensure that the use of carbon credits "will supplement, not substitute or delay, their own emissions reduction measures," and detail whether claims are a contribution or offset claim. Scope 1 refers to a company's direct emissions from its operations, while Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions arising from the purchase and consumption of energy as part of its operations. Scope 3 relates to the emissions produced from the use of a company's products.
The second set of recommendation focuses on the quality of carbon credits, which have to be of the highest environment integrity, on considering the impact in host countries and providing a regular and transparent reporting.
