UNDP《High-Integrity Carbon Markets Toolkit – Module 1 Part 1: Carbon Markets 101》

 UNDP《High-Integrity Carbon Markets Toolkit – Module 1 Part 1: Carbon Markets 101》

This document is Module 1 Part 1 (titled "Carbon Markets 101") of the High-Integrity Carbon Markets Toolkit, released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2025. Its purpose is to:

Build a shared foundational understanding of how carbon markets function, assisting governments, companies, investors, project developers, and communities in designing, participating in, and scaling carbon markets with high environmental and social integrity.

High-integrity carbon markets are not a race for trading volume; they are a competition in systems, governance, and trust. In the future, only carbon markets that are auditable, challengeable, and defensible will survive.

A particularly noteworthy section is Step 0 (Prerequisites) (pp. 48–50):

① Internal emission reductions must come first—carbon credits cannot substitute for direct reductions in a company’s own operations.

The document explicitly states:

Carbon credits are to be used for Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) and cannot be used to claim carbon neutrality or net-zero status without first undertaking internal emission reductions.

It references the prerequisite requirements from VCMI and SBTi for corporate use of carbon credits—namely, that companies must have already completed Scope 1–3 inventories and established a decarbonization pathway. This is precisely what Step 0 requires: “completed Scope 1–3 accounting and an existing emissions reduction pathway.”

There is currently widespread misunderstanding about carbon neutrality. For example, some temples purchase carbon credits and claim they have achieved carbon neutrality, or running events declare their activities to be carbon-neutral. In reality, you must first reduce your own emissions as much as possible—reduce until you cannot reduce any further—and only then purchase carbon credits to offset the remaining residual emissions. Otherwise, if you continue to increase emissions without limit while buying credits, you are not achieving genuine carbon reduction.

(The document download link is in the comments of the original post) https://lnkd.in/gHCYTQkp