Every carbon credit comes from a project, and the type of project shapes what you are paying for, how long the benefit lasts and how much it costs. Most credits sold today come from projects that avoid or reduce emissionsSource 1. A smaller, more expensive share comes from projects that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store itSource 2.
Avoidance projects
- Forest protection (REDD+) pays to keep forests standing that would otherwise be cleared. The ICVCM has approved three REDD methodologies against its Core Carbon PrinciplesSource 3.
- Clean cookstoves replace open fires or inefficient stoves, cutting the wood or charcoal households burn. The ICVCM has approved three cookstove methodologiesSource 4.
- Renewable energy funds wind, solar and other clean power. In August 2024 the ICVCM decided that credits from current renewable energy methodologies would not receive the CCP labelSource 5.
- Methane capture collects gas from landfills and similar sources. Ecosystem Marketplace reports that biogas projects, which include landfill gas to energy, were the only renewable energy type whose prices rose in 2024Source 2.
Removal projects
- Reforestation (afforestation, reforestation and revegetation) plants and restores forests that draw down CO₂ as they growSource 1.
- Biochar turns biomass into a stable form of carbon; Ecosystem Marketplace reports an average 2024 price of over $160 per tonneSource 2.
- Direct air capture uses machines to pull CO₂ from the air for storage, which the Oxford Principles class among removals with a lower risk of reversalSource 1.
- Enhanced weathering spreads crushed rock that binds CO₂. Puro.earth, which developed a crediting methodology for it, states a permanence of more than 1,000 yearsSource 6.
Mixed and portfolio approaches
- Blue carbon protects and restores coastal ecosystems such as mangroves; Ecosystem Marketplace tracks it as its own cluster within forestry and land useSource 2.
- A portfolio blends types to balance cost and risk. The Oxford Principles recommend shifting toward removals with a low risk of reversal over timeSource 1.
Choosing a type
Removals cost more: in 2024 they averaged $19.50 per tonne, against $4.05 for reduction creditsSource 2. Our pages on removal vs avoidance credits and carbon credit prices explain the trade-offs, and do carbon offsets work? sets out the evidence on quality by project type.
