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Can standards for voluntary carbon offsets ensure development benefits?

Briefing/policy papers

Written by Leo Peskett

Increasing concerns about climate change are fuelling growth in the market for carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are purchased by individuals and organisations from schemes that claim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere. This paper explores how emerging standards covering the voluntary carbon markets can address multiple aims of carbon offsetting and sustainable development and how they might be best designed to bring benefits for developing countries.

Leo Peskett, Cecilia Luttrell and Mari Iwata