Emission impossible? Why voluntary offsets may not be scalable

As finance looks to shape decarbonisation in its own image, critics wonder if its efforts are misplaced

Financial firms are developing new services for the carbon credit market, to try and improve the way that voluntary credits are traded. But the sector remains dogged by a lack of standards, which is feeding scepticism about whether a secondary market for voluntary carbon credits can – or should – reach the required scale.

“There’s still a big barrier to entry into this market for companies,” says Samuel Abettan, an economist at ING. “It’s a technical and knowledge barrier – how [carbon credits]