Buying carbon credits is legal almost everywhere. What you say about them afterwards is where the rules bite. This section explains what businesses can and can’t claim, starting with the EU’s ban on offset-based product claims.
Claims rule · EU
From 27 September 2026, EU rules ban product claims of neutral, reduced or positive climate impact based on offsettingSource 3.
The rules in brief
- European Union. Directive (EU) 2024/825 adds offset-based claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive greenhouse gas impact to the list of commercial practices banned in all circumstances. Member states apply the rules from 27 September 2026Source 3.
- United Kingdom. The CMA’s Green Claims Code says businesses should be clear about whether they are reducing their own emissions or offsetting, and should give details of any offsetting scheme they useSource 4. See UK rules.
- United States. The FTC’s Green Guides say offset sellers should use reliable methods to quantify reductions and avoid selling the same reduction twice, and should disclose when reductions won’t happen for two years or moreSource 5. See the FTC Green Guides.
What credible claims look like
Voluntary standards set out claims that hold up. VCMI’s Claims Code asks companies to set emission reduction targets first and then buy high-quality credits from outside their value chainSource 6. The SBTi’s net-zero standard says credits must not be counted as reductions towards a company’s science-based targetsSource 7. Version 2.0 of the standard, published in June 2026, keeps that ruleSource 1. Target validation under Version 2.0 starts in Q1 2027, and Version 1.3.1 remains available for target setting until 31 January 2028Source 2. Our pages on the VCMI Claims Code and SBTi and carbon credits explain both, and CSRD covers how large EU companies must report the credits they use.
A factual statement is the safest claim anywhere: what you did, how many tonnes you retired, from which project and under which standard, with a link to the registry record.
Start here
Read the EU green-claims ban, explained for the rules that now apply in the EU, and carbon neutral claims for why the phrase is risky and what to say instead. Net zero vs carbon neutral explains why the two terms now mean different things. If you are buying for a business, our guides for small businesses and companies cover the buying side.