Article publication Restoring trust in carbon credits for climate action by Philippe Delacote, Anna Creti et Tara L'Horty in Plos Climate.

PLOS Clim 4(11): e0000760.

November 12, 2025 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000760

Among the many issues on the climate agenda, one in particular deserves closer attention and has attracted significant academic interest: the need to establish common rules for the carbon credit market. The goal is to standardize a system that remains highly fragmented, poorly regulated, and of questionable credibility.

Carbon credits are a fundamental tool in the low-carbon transition, especially given the lack of public funding for North–South transfers within global climate finance. Most carbon credit projects are located in the Global South, but similar mechanisms are also being developed in industrialized countries, for instance through the forthcoming European Carbon Farming regulation. The principle is straightforward: a project developer who can demonstrate verified emissions reductions or carbon sequestration relative to a baseline scenario receives certified credits, which can then be sold to companies, governments, or individuals wishing to offset part of their emission.

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