Carbon credits
93 cases in 63 countries, 1990–2026. Most cases: Brazil (15), United States (15), United Kingdom (8), Canada (7), Russia (6).
EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism burden on Turkish exporters
The EU's carbon border mechanism entered its definitive period on 1 January 2026. Estimates put the 2026 burden on Turkish exporters between EUR 399 million and EUR 771 million, and several governments have objected to the rule.
Gigablue and Planetary Technologies ocean carbon credits
Two ocean carbon-removal companies sold credits in 2025: Gigablue (Israel) 200,000 credits to an aviation-focused buyer, and Planetary Technologies (Canada) credits to technology companies and an airline. A Danish scientist questioned Gigablue's method; the company said it was not fertilising the ocean.
Verra suspension of Chinese rice project verifiers
In March 2025 the carbon standard Verra rejected 37 rice methane projects in China and suspended four verification bodies that had audited them. The case raises the question of who pays and who checks the checkers.
Brazilian court fines Sigma Lithium over blast damage in Jequitinhonha valley
Sigma Lithium marketed its lithium as 'five-zero green lithium', a carbon-neutral claim based on credits from a suspended Amazon scheme. Prosecutors in Minas Gerais found blast-related cracks in about half of inspected homes, and a court imposed a 50 million real guarantee and a daily fine.
Paris court finds TotalEnergies' 2050 carbon-neutral claim misleading
A Paris court ruled in October 2025 that TotalEnergies' claim to be carbon neutral by 2050 misled consumers, while its production was rising. Nature's stake: whether carbon-neutral claims rest on emissions that continue.
Indonesia's Merauke food estate released 486,939 hectares of forest
Forest land in Merauke, South Papua, was released for a food estate, and army battalions are reported to be clearing land there. At stake: forest cover and customary land in Papua.
Planetary sold 625.6 ocean carbon credits as LOC-NESS and ExOIS trials proceed
Planetary Technologies issued 625.6 ocean alkalinity credits, while the LOC-NESS and ExOIS trials are research that sells no credits. Frontier agreed to buy 115,211 credits, with deliveries due in 2026 to 2030.
Microsoft forestry carbon deals and the Apple Restore Fund
Microsoft contracted tens of millions of tonnes of forestry-based carbon removal from re.green, Rubicon, Chestnut Carbon and Kijani Forestry, while its own emissions rose 29% between 2020 and 2023. Apple's Restore Fund, managed by Climate Asset Management, invests partly in plantings of commercial species such as eucalyptus.
Germany rejects 215,000 carbon credits from Chinese oil-sector projects
Credits from upstream emission reduction projects in China were used to meet part of Germany's fuel quota. After re-examination, the environment agency rejected 215,000 credits in September 2024 and the system was closed.
Colombian court finds REDD+ carbon scheme violated indigenous rights
Colombia's Constitutional Court, in ruling T-248/24, found that a REDD+ carbon scheme violated indigenous rights, Mongabay Latam reported in 2024. The cited sources do not name the scheme, the community or the company involved.
Australian government rejects claim that 25 million carbon credits are worthless
The Australian government rejected a claim that 25 million ACCU carbon credits are worthless. Whether the credits protect forests that would otherwise be cleared is the question for nature, and the cited sources do not settle it.
EU bans offset-based neutrality claims from 27 September 2026
EU Directive 2024/825 bans product neutrality claims based on greenhouse gas offsetting, and generic claims such as 'eco-friendly', from 27 September 2026. The stake for nature is whether claims based on forest or tree-planting offsets can still tell buyers that emissions are cancelled out.
Brazil: Operation Greenwashing
In June 2024 Brazil's Federal Police began an investigation into carbon credits sold from forest projects in Amazonas state. The police alleged that forged land titles were used to take about 538,000 hectares of federal public land; police reports naming 31 people were made public in October 2025, and no court ruling has been recorded.
Saudi regional voluntary carbon market auction
In 2023 the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company, founded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, held a voluntary carbon credit auction. Saudi Aramco and the state electricity company were among the buyers.
Occidental Stratos direct air capture plant (Texas)
Occidental is building a direct air capture plant in Texas with a planned capacity of 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The plant draws on federal tax credits, a federal hub allocation and outside investment, and its start-up has slipped to the end of 2026.
Pará forest carbon credit schemes face suspension and lawsuits
Verra suspended three Portel credit schemes in 2023 over overlap with public land, and a 2024 state deal to sell 12 million forest credits faces a federal lawsuit. Prosecutors also say Indigenous and quilombola consultations were squeezed into 3 to 5 days.
Pará state pre-sold 12 million REDD+ credits; federal prosecutors sue to cancel
Pará pre-sold 12 million REDD+ credits, which stand for forest protection, to the LEAF Coalition in 2024. Federal prosecutors say the sale went ahead without prior consultation and have sued to cancel it.
Study finds offset schemes overstate climate impacts; Kenyan court orders shutdown
EFI reported a 2023 study in Science which found that carbon offset schemes overstate their climate benefits. Mongabay reported in January 2025 that a Kenyan court ordered two community wildlife conservancies shut; the cited sources do not link the two.
ICVCM approves three REDD+ methods; older Verra methods left out
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market approved three REDD+ methodologies in November 2024, but the older REDD+ methodologies, which make up most REDD+ credits, cannot carry its label. A Cambodian REDD+ scheme was suspended by Verra and re-approved after review by its earlier validators.
Four registrations in Australia's nature repair market; NSW audit found demand unmatched
Australia's national nature repair market had four registrations by October 2026, two of them from one investment firm. An audit of New South Wales's older offsets scheme found that about 90% of demand was not matched by supply.
Verra suspends three REDD+ schemes in Brazil's Portel over public land overlap
Verra suspended three REDD+ schemes in Portel, Pará, in September 2023 because they overlapped public land, after they had sold more than 23 million credits. At stake is the public land and the families living on it, with about 1,484 families in five farming settlements affected according to the reports.
Biomas restoration initiative
Six Brazilian and international companies announced Biomas at COP27 in November 2022, a company to restore, conserve and preserve 4 million hectares over 20 years, financed by selling carbon credits. Later project details come from press reports and are unconfirmed.
Aydın geothermal plants and fig orchards (Sarı Zeybek, Çamköy, Germencik)
In Aydın, Turkey's main fig-growing province, courts annulled environmental decisions for geothermal wells planned in fig orchards, and a minister reported a non-standard discharge from a geothermal plant. Plant owners are paid under a purchase guarantee set in Law 5346.
Carbon credit rating agencies and Space Intelligence rebuttal (Sylvera, BeZero)
Private firms such as Sylvera, BeZero and Calyx rate carbon credits, and sell their reports largely to credit buyers. Their investors and clients, and a company that sells monitoring to forest projects and led calls to retract a study critical of REDD+ credits, are examined in the cited sources.
Blue Carbon LLC forest carbon deals (UAE, Africa)
A Dubai company founded in 2022 signed memoranda in 2023 covering about 24.5 million hectares of forest in Africa and elsewhere. By late 2025 the Liberian deal was reported halted and no credits had been issued.
Make Sunsets stratospheric balloon launches (Mexico)
A start-up founder launched weather balloons in Baja California in April 2022 without permits and later sold USD 10 "cooling credits" tied to releasing sulphur dioxide in the stratosphere. Mexico announced a ban on such experiments in January 2023.
Sakhalin carbon-neutrality experiment under Federal Law 34-FZ
Federal Law 34-FZ of 2022 set an experiment in Sakhalin Oblast from 1 September 2022 to 31 December 2028 with a goal of carbon neutrality by 31 December 2025. Officials announced on 2 August 2025 that absorption exceeded emissions under the regional cadastre, and representatives of the RSPP were reported as saying the balance came from refining the cadastre rather than from quotas.
Shell's 2022 stake in Brazilian REDD+ developer Carbonext
Shell Brasil bought a minority stake in Carbonext, a Brazilian REDD+ developer, in 2022. Police and prosecutors later acted against REDD+ schemes, including some the sources say Carbonext developed, and the sources do not say whether Carbonext or Shell were charged.
Marfrig co-founded Biomas, a Brazilian forest-restoration company
Marfrig is one of six companies that founded Biomas in 2022 to restore and conserve 4 million hectares of Brazilian forest, under a model based on selling carbon credits. Reports that Marfrig bought cattle from deforested land with bond money are unconfirmed.
Australian government rejects claim that natural regeneration credits are worthless
Australia's natural regeneration (HIR) carbon credits were reported to have limited impact, and the government rejected a claim that the credits are worthless. At stake: whether the credits pay for forest regrowth that would not otherwise have happened.
Hess agreed to buy at least $750m of Guyana forest credits
Hess agreed in 2022 to buy at least $750 million of REDD+ forest credits from Guyana for 2022 to 2032, while it is a 30% partner in an oil block in the same country. The cited sources do not show whether the credits offset its oil emissions.
Gabon planned 187 million sovereign carbon credits as TotalEnergies took a timber stake
In 2022 Gabon planned 187 million sovereign forest carbon credits, while TotalEnergies bought 49 per cent of CBG, a timber company holding a 600,000-hectare logging concession. At stake for nature is how a whole country's forest is turned into tradable credits.
Vida Manglar mangrove project
A blue-carbon project in the Cispata mangroves of Colombia, run with Conservation International, issued 67,000 credits. The developer reports that all were sold and that 92% of proceeds go to local people; no published criticism was found.
SBTi funding, Scope 3 EAC announcement and CEO exit
The Science Based Targets initiative, which validates company climate targets, is funded by donations and by approval fees paid by companies. In April 2024 its board issued a statement opening the door to environmental attribute certificates for supply-chain emissions; staff and advisers objected and the CEO stepped down in July 2024.
Russia's national carbon-unit system under Federal Law 296-FZ
Federal Law 296-FZ of 2021 created Russian carbon units, each the verified result of a climate project equal to one tonne of CO2 equivalent. The national registry lists 141 projects and 37,726,274 units in circulation, and sources give conflicting figures for circulation and prices.
Sahel restoration carbon finance: AFR100 pledges, a projected USD 28bn carbon asset value and 11 registered projects in Great Green Wall countries
AFR100 stated that 33 African countries had committed to restore 129.27 million hectares, with USD 1bn in development finance and USD 481 million in private commitments. A December 2024 WEF and Tree Aid paper projected carbon asset value of up to USD 28bn in Great Green Wall countries, where 11 of Africa's 74 registered nature-based voluntary carbon projects were located.
Eni bought Zambian forest credits as a community received about EUR 50,000
Eni acquired about 3.1 million credits from the Luangwa community forests project in Zambia, which covers 943,646 hectares. REDD-Monitor reported that the Luembe community received about EUR 50,000 in one year, that its chief said this was not enough, and that a school built with scheme funds stood empty.
Toucan moved 21.6 million legacy Verra carbon credits onto blockchains
The Toucan protocol moved 21.6 million older Verra carbon credits onto blockchains in 2021 and 2022, and 99.9 per cent of them had a first crediting period before 2016. At stake is whether credits from older crediting periods are traded as current offsets.
California forest offsets buffer pool and wildfire
California's forest offsets programme sets aside credits in a buffer pool to cover losses such as fire. Researchers estimate that fires have used up almost 40% of the pool, against 20% allocated for 100 years of fire risk.
Plastic credits and Philippines PCX
Plastic credits are sold by registries including Verra and the Philippines-based Plastic Credit Exchange. Investigations found that most plastic collected under the Philippine scheme went to cement kilns, and that Nestlé Philippines spent all of $732,900 on credits from burning.
Frontier buyers' club, Microsoft and the Puro.earth / Exomad Green biochar deal
A buyers' club of technology and consulting firms negotiates prices for carbon removal credits, reviews suppliers and accepts deliveries, while Microsoft bought about 91% of long-term removal tonnes in the first half of 2025. Microsoft's agreement for 1.24 million tonnes of biochar from Bolivia is certified by a registry majority-owned by Nasdaq; no independent investigation of that supply chain was found.
Bezos Earth Fund: first grants and SBTi funding
In November 2020 the Bezos Earth Fund made a first round of grants of $791 million to 16 organisations, $100 million each to five of them. It was also a core funder of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which validates company climate targets.
TotalEnergies Batéké acacia carbon project (Congo)
A 40,000-hectare acacia plantation on the Batéké plateau in the Republic of Congo was planned to generate carbon credits for TotalEnergies. Reporting found that farmers lost land, and that the project stopped in May 2025 with about 12.5% of the target planted.
C-Quest Capital cookstove credit case: founder charged over inflated credit counts
Verra approved C-Quest Capital's cookstove method in September 2020 while founder Kenneth Newcombe sat on Verra's board, and US prosecutors charged him in October 2024 with falsifying data to inflate credit counts. At stake is whether the credits reflected real emission cuts.
BP acquires majority stake in Finite Carbon, a US forest carbon developer
BP bought a majority stake in forest-carbon developer Finite Carbon in December 2020. South Pole left the Kariba forest-carbon scheme in Zimbabwe in October 2023, saying it was disappointed with how the operator ran it on the ground.
Shell buys Australian carbon-farming firm Select Carbon in August 2020
Shell announced in August 2020 that it would acquire Select Carbon, an Australian carbon-farming company. Shell later dropped its offset targets in October 2023, including a target of 120 million tonnes by 2030.
Wildfires have consumed almost 40% of California's forest offset buffer pool
CarbonPlan estimates that wildfire has consumed almost 40% of the buffer pool behind California's forest carbon offsets, against 20% allocated for fire over 100 years. The state's Air Resources Board replaces burned credits from the pool, and buyers are not charged.
TotalEnergies reportedly abandoned Congo carbon plantation at 12.5% of target
TotalEnergies presented its Tilenga oil work in Uganda's national park as net positive for biodiversity, while its 40,000 hectare Batéké plantation in the Republic of the Congo reached about 12.5% of target. At stake: park biodiversity and the credibility of carbon sink claims.
Sole bidder re.green wins first forest carbon-rights tender in Brazil
Brazil's 2023 law let holders of federal forest concessions sell carbon credits. The first tender under it, for Bom Futuro National Forest in Rondônia, went to re.green as sole bidder for 40 years.
IMF whale-value paper and Baffinland narwhal pilot
A December 2019 article in the IMF's magazine valued an average great whale at more than $2 million. Two of its authors later launched a narwhal pilot in the Canadian Arctic with an iron-ore mining company as a partner; no whale carbon credit had been sold by October 2026.
Shell nature-based solutions and carbon-neutral driving ads
Shell announced up to $300 million for natural ecosystems and offered customers carbon-neutral driving by offsetting fuel emissions. The Dutch Advertising Code Committee found the carbon-neutral advertising misleading; its rulings are not binding.
Russian forest-climate projects: RUSAL fire-protection units and Sakhalin larch planting
RUSAL Krasnoyarsk's aerial fire-protection project on 504,986 hectares earned Russian carbon units, and units from it were sold to a UAE fund in October 2024 in the first foreign transaction in Russia's registry. Registry operator, forestry agency and scientists have questioned forest-project quality in general, and one registered project plans to plant larch on bogs on Sakhalin.
Posidonia oceanica meadows (Balearics, Mediterranean)
Posidonia oceanica, a seagrass found only in the Mediterranean, has been reported to have declined by 34% in 50 years, a figure other researchers dispute. The Balearic Islands banned anchoring over meadows in 2018; boats were still being detected over them in 2025, and carbon-credit and restoration schemes have produced claims that the cited sources do not yet confirm.
Coca-Cola plastic pledges and brand audits
Coca-Cola pledged in 2018 to collect a bottle or can for each one it sold by 2030. In December 2024 it revised its goals, while brand audits counted its products as the largest share of branded plastic waste.
Running Tide ocean carbon removal (Maine/Iceland)
A Maine company sold ocean carbon-removal credits to corporate buyers and sank wood chips off Iceland. An Icelandic oceanographer said the method captured no atmospheric carbon; the company said it had removed carbon. It closed in June 2024.
Mine offsets in Guinea and Madagascar drew village complaints over water and access
Bauxite mines in Guinea and the Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar used conservation areas as biodiversity offsets. Mongabay reported water loss for a Guinean village and restricted access for villagers in Madagascar.
Mineral Commodities v Reddell (Xolobeni/Tormin SLAPP)
From 2017 an Australia-based mining company and its affiliates sued six critics of its South African mines for about R14.25 million in defamation damages. In 2022 the Constitutional Court recognised the SLAPP defence as part of the law on abuse of process.
Used cooking oil and POME biofuel certification: fraud allegations (ISCC, EU/UK)
Fuel made from ‘waste’ oils counts double in the EU and the UK, and certificates from the ISCC scheme attest that the oil is waste. Estimates of how much imported used cooking oil is mislabelled palm oil range from about one third to about 80 per cent; no regulator finding has put a figure on it.
Delta Blue Carbon mangrove project (Pakistan)
A 60-year partnership between the Government of Sindh and Indus Delta Capital restores mangroves in the Indus Delta and sells carbon credits. Reported revenue to the province ranges from $14.7 million to about $50 million, and no community share has been published.
Southern Cardamom REDD+ project and the arrest of Pork Nget (Cambodia)
A REDD+ carbon project run by Wildlife Alliance with Cambodia's Ministry of Environment received more than 27 million Verra credits. Human Rights Watch reported that Indigenous Chong families were not consulted for 31 months and that some were evicted, detained or beaten; Wildlife Alliance denied the abuses, Verra reinstated the project in September 2024, and a Chong farmer was arrested in his field in June 2024.
Cambodia REDD+ indigenous consultation failure
Human Rights Watch reported that Chong Indigenous communities were not consulted for 31 months about the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project in Cambodia, and documented evictions and detentions. Wildlife Alliance denied the abuses.
Quest CCS (Shell, Alberta)
Shell's Quest carbon capture facility in Alberta, Canada, was presented as proof that the technology is safe and effective. Global Witness reported that over five years it captured 5 million tonnes of carbon and emitted 7.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.
Barro Blanco hydro dam (Panama)
A 28.8 MW hydroelectric dam in Panama was registered under the UN Clean Development Mechanism and financed with USD 50 million in loans from FMO and DEG. An independent complaints panel found that the two banks had breached their own policies, and Panama withdrew the UN registration in November 2016.
Burkina Faso Forest Investment Program project: 3.78 million tCO2eq in emission reductions estimated with an ex-ante tool
A World Bank-administered Forest Investment Program project spent USD 23.7 million in grants across 32 communes in Burkina Faso between 2014 and 2021. The 3.78 million tCO2eq in emission reductions it reported was estimated with an ex-ante tool because the monitoring, reporting and verification system was not completed.
Brazil REDD+ forest credits: Suruí project suspended; 2024 Amazonas concessions probed
Brazil's Paiter Suruí REDD+ project sold forest carbon credits to Natura and FIFA and was suspended in 2018 after logging exceeded its permitted limit. In May 2024 Amazonas state granted 21 REDD concessions over 11.9 million hectares of public forest without consulting 483 communities.
Northern Kenya Grasslands Carbon Project and the Isiolo court ruling
A Verra-registered soil-carbon project in northern Kenya covers 1.9 million hectares. In January 2025 a Kenyan court found that two of its conservancies had been set up without adequate public participation.
Alto Mayo REDD+ project (Peru)
A forest-carbon project in Peru's Alto Mayo, run by Conservation International and certified by Verra, supplied credits to Disney and others. A 2023 analysis estimated that it received about ten times the credits it justified and reported home demolitions in the project area in 2021; Conservation International said it was not involved.
Santo Antônio dam sought 51 million tonnes of UN carbon credits
The Santo Antônio dam on Brazil's Madeira River was registered under the UN Clean Development Mechanism, and credits for 2013 to 2020 appear to have been issued. Philip Fearnside called the 51 million tonne reduction claimed under the registration 'hot air', meaning credits with no real cut behind them.
Kenyan court rules two carbon conservancies were unconstitutionally established
A Kenyan court ruled in January 2025 that two conservancies in the Northern Kenya Grasslands Carbon Project were unconstitutionally established. Meta and Netflix bought the credits, and Survival International said Borana and Samburu herders lost grazing rights.
Kariba REDD+ project (Zimbabwe)
A forest-protection carbon project in Zimbabwe sold about 23 million credits for about €100 million between 2011 and 2022. In September 2025 Verra found that 15.2 million of the 26.8 million credits issued were excess.
McKinsey advice to COP28 presidency and fossil clients
McKinsey gave free advice to the COP28 climate summit presidency in 2023, whose president also ran the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, while oil and mining companies were among its clients. The firm also drew up forest-carbon cost curves for forest countries and is a founding member of a carbon-removal buyers' club.
Hess agreed to buy at least US$750 million of Guyana forest credits
Guyana agreed in 2022 to supply REDD+ forest credits to Hess, a partner in its Stabroek oil block, and IATA said in September 2025 that all CORSIA-eligible supply came from Guyana. Greenpeace said in 2011 that the McKinsey-assisted Guyana forest plan would let logging rise 20-fold.
Mikoko Pamoja mangrove project
A community mangrove carbon project in Gazi Bay, Kenya, certified by Plan Vivo, sets aside 117 hectares of mangrove and sells carbon credits. Reported revenue is about $15,000 a year, and about $117,000 has gone to community projects.
Rainforest credits investigation
A joint investigation found more than 90% of rainforest offset credits from the largest standard were likely "phantom credits". The standard-setter earns most of its income from per-credit fees.
Livelihoods Fund mangrove project (Senegal)
A mangrove-planting project in the Casamance and Sine Saloum deltas planted 10,415 hectares in 2009–2012 and issued almost 500,000 credits, all of which went to its corporate investors. A 2014 verification found almost total loss of tree cover in a quarter of sampled plots.
Russian Joint Implementation credits under the Kyoto Protocol, 2009–2012
Russia approved 108 Joint Implementation projects through tenders run by the state bank Sberbank, and 98 registered projects received about 266 million emission reduction units, according to Sberbank figures cited by the Stockholm Environment Institute. A 2015 SEI study found significant environmental integrity concerns for more than 80% of Russian and Ukrainian units.
Cordillera Azul National Park carbon project
Shell and TotalEnergies paid more than $80 million for credits from a Peruvian park. A satellite analysis found forest loss more than doubled during the project period.
HFC-23 and SF6 Joint Implementation projects at KCKK Polymer and HaloPolymer Perm
Three Joint Implementation projects at two Russian fluorochemical sites issued 54 million emission reduction units. A 2015 study in Nature Climate Change found that waste-gas generation rose abruptly once crediting rules no longer capped it, and estimated that about 28–33 million credits were issued in excess.
Ukraine's Joint Implementation credits and Kyoto unit sales to Japan and Spain, 2008–2021
Ukraine hosted the largest number of Kyoto Joint Implementation projects, with 503.3 million emission reduction units issued, and sold surplus Kyoto allowances to Japan and Spain for money earmarked for emission-cutting and environmental projects. Criminal cases over the use of that money were brought; no verdict is on record.
Verra registry fee structure, auditor ties and the Follow the Money response
Verra runs the largest voluntary carbon-credit registry; project developers choose and pay the auditors, and Verra earns a levy on each credit. Follow the Money argued this gives Verra a financial interest in being less strict; Verra replied that the arrangement is standard practice.
Edelman: API contract, Energy Citizens and the COP30 contract
The public relations firm Edelman worked for the American Petroleum Institute from 2005 to 2016 and later won the communications contract for the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. The cited sources show it holding fossil-fuel and climate-related work at the same time.
HFC-23 destruction credits under the CDM (China, India)
The UN Clean Development Mechanism issued carbon credits for destroying HFC-23, a by-product gas of refrigerant manufacture. Records describe production of the gas rising during crediting and global emissions reaching a record in 2018.
Indigenous land registration cut Amazon deforestation; recent Brazilian rulings reverse course
Full legal registration of Indigenous territories in the Brazilian Amazon was linked to lower deforestation. In 2025 clearing rose in some territories, and courts and Congress were still disputing the cut-off rule for land claims.
In Salah CO2 storage at Krechba (Sonatrach, BP, Statoil)
A Sonatrach, BP and Statoil joint venture injected 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 at the Krechba gas field in the Algerian Sahara between 2004 and 2011. Injection was halted in June 2011; US Department of Energy laboratory work in 2012 reported that pressure may have migrated into the lower caprock.
Rio Tinto's QMM ilmenite mine: net positive impact pledge and biodiversity offset (Madagascar)
Rio Tinto made a 'net positive impact' pledge on biodiversity in 2004 that covered its QMM ilmenite mine in Madagascar, and dropped it in 2016. Accounts record all members of its biodiversity committee resigning, and the World Rainforest Movement reported forest destruction and restrictions on local communities at the offset project.
Rabobank co-financed a Brazilian eucalyptus carbon plantation contested by locals
Rabobank co-financed the Plantar eucalyptus plantation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, whose carbon credits were sold to a World Bank fund. Local communities say they were dispossessed, and offsets built on contested land raise questions for forests and the people who live on them.
Most of Coldplay's offset mango saplings in India dried up within four years
Coldplay had about 10,000 mango saplings planted in Karnataka, India, as a carbon offset between 2002 and 2006. Most of them dried up within four years, according to Foreign Policy.
Nepal community forestry
A 2019 study of more than 18,000 community forests in Nepal found 37% less deforestation and 4.3% less poverty than in matched comparison areas. A January 2026 study of rural inequality reported that the poverty gain went mainly to dominant caste groups and that the Dalit gain was not statistically significant.
Nepal forest carbon deals (World Bank ER-MR, LEAF)
Nepal received US$9.4 million from the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility for 1.88 million tonnes of CO2 reductions in 2025, and has a LEAF Coalition agreement worth up to US$55 million. Studies of community forests report that benefits reached poorer and lower-caste households unevenly.
Bolivian carbon scheme claimed 55 million tonnes; review found at most 5.8 million
The Noel Kempff Climate Action Project in Bolivia was set up by TNC with BP and two electricity companies. Its claimed savings were far above the figure a Greenpeace review found.
FACE Foundation Mount Elgon carbon forest (Uganda)
A 1994 agreement covering 25,000 hectares of Mount Elgon in Uganda is listed as a carbon forest project. Reporting links the project area to the eviction of the Benet people.
California forest carbon projects burned (Verra buffer pool)
Wildfires burned forests enrolled in carbon-offset projects in California. Credits for the burned carbon were replaced from the registry's shared buffer pool, which the records reviewed say was largely used up.
Worldview International Foundation mangrove project (Myanmar)
A Myanmar mangrove planting programme registered with Verra reports seedling survival of 86 to 96 percent and an AA rating from BeZero. The cited sources contain no independent audit.
Carbon and conservation finance
- Carbon credit
- A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.