Voluntary carbon credit supply – what credits are available, and how many of them are there?

In the voluntary carbon market (VCM), project developers carry out activities that either remove greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere or reduce the amount of GHGs entering the atmosphere compared to scenarios where those activities did not occur. They are issued credits (measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent) representing the amount of emissions their activities have “saved” – in other words, how many units of climate change mitigation the activities have caused. Other entities (businesses, individuals, and, in some cases, public institutions or governments) can purchase these credits, thereby sponsoring the mitigation projects that generated them. The buyers can then apply the credits toward a GHG reduction target (typically offsetting the buyer’s own emissions) and/or make environmental claims such as supporting climate change mitigation efforts that have reduced emissions by a certain amount.