Carbon and Nature Markets
A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent, either kept out of the atmosphere or removed from it. Credits let organizations finance climate action beyond their own operations, and they are the currency of the world's carbon markets.
Credits trade in two kinds of market. Compliance markets are created by regulation, where capped emitters must surrender allowances or credits. Voluntary markets let companies and individuals buy credits by choice, usually to meet climate commitments.
Credits come in two broad types. Reduction credits represent emissions avoided, such as protecting a forest that would otherwise be cleared. Removal credits represent carbon actively taken from the atmosphere, such as reforestation or engineered capture. The two are not interchangeable.
The value of a credit depends entirely on whether the tonne it represents is real. A cheap credit that does not reflect a genuine, additional, and lasting outcome is worse than no credit at all, because it lets emissions continue under the appearance of action.
This is why measurement and verification define a credit's worth. Druid Chain is built to record the data behind a credit so buyers can confirm that the tonne is real, making integrity something that can be proven rather than assumed.
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