Credits and offsets form two slightly different markets, although the basic unit traded is the same – the equivalent of one ton of carbon emissions, also known as CO₂e.

It’s worth noting that a ton of CO₂ does refer to a literal measurement of weight. Just how much CO₂ is in a ton?

• The average American generates 16 tons of CO₂e a year through driving, shopping, using electricity and gas at home, and generally going through the motions of everyday life.

To further put that emission in perspective, you would generate one ton of CO₂e by driving your average 22 mpg car from New York to Las Vegas.

Carbon credits are issued by national or international governmental organizations. We’ve already mentioned the Kyoto and Paris agreements which created the first international carbon markets.

The voluntary carbon market is difficult to measure. The cost of carbon credits varies, particularly for carbon offsets, since the value is linked closely to the perceived quality of the issuing company. Third-party validators add a level of control to the process, guaranteeing that each carbon offset actually results from real-world emissions reductions, but even so there’s often disparities between different types of carbon offsets.

While the voluntary carbon market was estimated to be worth about $400 million last year, forecasts place the value of the sector between $10-25 billion by 2030, depending on how aggressively countries around the world pursue their climate change targets.

The voluntary market works a bit differently. Companies in this marketplace have the opportunity to work with businesses and individuals who are environmentally conscious and are choosing to offset their carbon emissions because they want to. There is nothing mandated here.

It might be an environmentally conscious company that wants to demonstrate that they’re doing their part to protect the environment. Or it can be an environmentally conscious person who wants to offset the amount of carbon they’re putting into the air when they travel.

• For example: in 2021, the oil giant Shell announced the company aims to offset 120 million tonnes of emissions by 2030

Regardless of their reasoning, companies are looking for ways to participate – and the voluntary carbon market is a way for them to do just that.

Both the regulatory and voluntary marketplaces complement one another in the professional (and the personal) world. They also make the pool of buyers more accessible to farmers, ranchers, and landowners – those whose operations can often generate carbon offsets for sale.

The terms are frequently used interchangeably, but carbon credits and carbon offsets operate on different mechanisms.

Carbon credits, also known as carbon allowances, work like permission slips for emissions. When a company buys a carbon credit, usually from the government, they gain permission to generate one ton of CO₂ emissions. With carbon credits, carbon revenue flows vertically from companies to regulators, though companies who end up with excess credits can sell them to other companies.

Offsets flow horizontally, trading carbon revenue between companies. When one company removes a unit of carbon from the atmosphere as part of their normal business activity, they can generate a carbon offset. Other companies can then purchase that carbon offset to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Note that the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and carbon offsets are often referred to as “offset credits”. Still, this distinction between regulatory compliance credits and voluntary offsets should be kept in mind.

In the U.S., California operates its own carbon market and issues credits to residents for gas and electricity consumption.

The number of credits issued each year is typically based on emissions targets. Credits are frequently issued under what’s known as a “cap-and-trade” program. Regulators set a limit on carbon emissions – the cap. That cap slowly decreases over time, making it harder and harder for businesses to stay within that cap.

Around the world, cap-and-trade programs exist in some form in Canada, the EU, the UK, China, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea, with many more countries and states considering implementation.

Companies are thus incentivized to reduce the emissions their business operations produce to stay under their caps.

In essence, a cap-and-trade program lessens the burden for companies trying to meet emissions targets in the short term, and adds market incentives to reduce carbon emissions faster.

A carbon market allows investors and corporations to trade both carbon credits and carbon offsets simultaneously. This mitigates the environmental crisis, while also creating new market opportunities.

The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and the Paris Agreement of 2015 were international accords that laid out international CO₂ emissions goals. With the latter ratified by all but six countries, they have given rise to national emissions targets and the regulations to back them.

With these new regulations in force, the pressure on businesses to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint is growing. Most of today’s interim solutions involve the use of the carbon markets.

What the carbon markets do is turn CO₂ emissions into a commodity by giving it a price. These emissions fall into one of two categories: Carbon credits or carbon offsets, and they can both be bought and sold on a carbon market.

When it comes to the sale of carbon credits within the carbon marketplace, there are two significant, separate markets to choose from.

1. One is a regulated market, set by “cap-and-trade” regulations at the regional and state levels.
2. The other is a voluntary market where businesses and individuals buy credits (of their own accord) to offset their carbon emissions.

Think of it this way: the regulatory market is mandated, while the voluntary market is optional.

When it comes to the regulatory market, each company operating under a cap-and-trade program is issued a certain number of carbon credits each year. Some of these companies produce less emissions than the number of credits they’re allotted, giving them a surplus of carbon credits.