How to Buy Carbon Credits
As companies work toward reducing their carbon footprints, purchasing carbon credits has emerged as a meaningful way to contribute to global climate action. While reducing emissions within operations and supply chains should always take priority, buying high-quality carbon credits can play a critical role in addressing residual emissions and delivering immediate positive impacts. Understanding the process of purchasing carbon credits is essential to ensure alignment with your company´s sustainability goals and values.
Content:
A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying Carbon Credits
Step 1: Determine your Purchasing Approach
When buying carbon credits, selecting the right source is a key initial decision. Companies can acquire credits through several channels:
- Project Developers: Sourcing directly from developers like OCELL, allows for more control and potentially lower costs.
- Broker: Brokers can handle transactions and associated steps for you.
- Carbon Credit Marketplaces: Carbon credit marketplaces connect companies with sellers.
- Consultancies: Consultancies often offer a portfolio of climate projects to choose from in addition to facilitating the purchase.
Step 2: Select Climate Project(s) that Align with your Company´s Values
Not all carbon credits are created equal. Choosing the right projects ensures that your investment supports tangible climate impact and broader environmental and social benefits:
- Certification: Ensure the climate project as well as the issued carbon credits are certified by recognized standards like the Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), or Wald-Klimastandard. These frameworks guarantee rigorous verification processes through independent audits and adherence to criteria like additionality, permanence, and avoidance of double counting.
- Co-Benefits: Look for projects that contribute beyond carbon reductions and offer additional social or environmental benefits, such as enhancing biodiversity or ecosystem services.
- High-Quality Criteria: Ensure that the climate project meets additionality requirements – the project would not have occurred without carbon credit funding – and that both the credits and the project adhere to high-quality standards.
As part of project selection, it is important to understand that carbon credits differ based on the type of impact they represent.
- Carbon Removal credits: These credits are issued for actions that physically remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. This can be achieved through natural processes and technologies, such as Improved Forest Management (IFM), afforestation, and reforestation or technologies like Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACS).
- Carbon Avoidance credits: These credits are generated by projects that prevent or reduce emissions that would have occurred without the project such as renewable energy projects replacing fossil fuel.
Combining avoidance and removal credits can create a balanced portfolio that addresses both short-term and long-term decarbonization needs.
Step 3: Ensure Carbon Credit Retirement
Purchasing carbon credits is only effective when those credits are officially retired in the corresponding registry. This final step is essential to ensure that your company claims the climate benefit associated with the credits:
- Registry retirement: Credits should be retired in the official registry administered by the standard.
- Unique serial number:Upon retirement, you should receive documentation confirming the retirement, including the unique ID number of the retired credits. This ensures transparency and prevents double counting.
Key considerations for corporate buyers
When integrating carbon credits into your corporate climate strategy, consider the following best practices:
- Embed carbon credits into your mitigation hierarchy: Buying carbon credits should complement, not replace, internal decarbonization efforts. Prioritize emissions reductions within your operations and supply chain (Scope 1, 2, and 3) before turning to credits.
- Transparency in claims: Clearly communicate your company´s approach to purchasing and using carbon credits. Emerging frameworks like the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) Claims Code of Practice can help ensure credible claims. Transparent communication fosters stakeholder trust and protects against accusations of greenwashing.
- Stay informed on market developments: The voluntary carbon market is rapidly evolving. Initiatives like the Integrity council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) are introducing Core Carbon Principles (CCP) to further standardize high-quality criteria. Keeping up to date on developments ensures your company remains compliant with best practices and can adapt to emerging standards.
Looking Ahead
The carbon credit market is becoming an increasingly vital tool in the transition toward net zero. As companies face growing pressure from stakeholders, regulators, and consumers to reduce emissions, carbon credits offer an immediate solution to compensate for residual emissions while internal reductions are pursued. Moreover, investments in high-quality climate projects contribute to broader environmental and social benefits, such as biodiversity conservation, community development, and ecosystem resilience.
By investing in high-quality projects and adhering to best practices, companies can drive meaningful climate action while also supporting biodiversity, local communities, and ecosystem resilience.
Interested in learning more about high-quality carbon credits?
Read our blog article “What are High-Quality Carbon Credits?”
OCELL is developing climate-optimized forest management projects through innovative, data-driven technology solutions.
Find out more about our projects.
Sabrina Hörmann
Marketing Manager with a passion for sustainability.
Enjoys exploring the forests, mountains and lakes around Munich with her dog.
