United States: US Gov't outlines governmental guidelines for carbon offsets.

The United States government in a May 28 document has outlined "voluntary principles" that US participants should "embrace" when it comes to carbon offsets.

The document notes that: "Widespread confidence in the integrity of credited emissions reductions and removals is critical for voluntary carbon credit markets (VCMs) to reach their potential," while acknowledging that researchers and journalists have found that "several popular crediting methodologies and activities that rely on them have not produced the decarbonization outcomes they claim."

Treasury Secretary Janel Yellen said in a statement: "Voluntary carbon markets can help unlock the power of private markets to reduce emissions, but that can only happen if we address significant existing challenges. The principles released today are an important step toward building high-integrity voluntary carbon markets."

“There are credible estimates that the voluntary carbon market could grow to 10 or 20 times what it is today, and then you’d be talking about real money to tackle climate change,” said Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an environmental group that supports the use of carbon offsets, to the New York Times. “But we’re not going to get to that scale unless buyers have confidence in what they’re buying.”