The Revival of Voluntary Carbon Markets in the Anthropocene

Voluntary carbon markets, such as frameworks like REDD+, have played a central and controversial role in global climate policy since the 1990s. Within the framework of neoclassical environmental economics, such approaches are viewed as efficient tools for internalizing external environmental costs. Critics, however, argue that they fail to provide genuine incentives for emissions reduction, overlook issues of justice and often serve as vehicles for greenwashing. Studies have shown that especially offset schemes are prone to fraud and often do not reduce emissions as planned, calling into question the validity and credibility of such programs. Despite this long-standing criticism, the concept of carbon markets remains pervasive as evidenced by recent development such as the introduction of the EU’s Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Framework which aims to establish soil carbon markets within the EU.

This paper seeks to examine the politics of behind voluntary carbon markets in forestry and agriculture. Drawing on recent academic debates and empirical research on soil carbon markets and forest-based offsetting schemes, we analyze the changing landscape of voluntary carbon markets. What makes the idea of voluntary carbon markets so compelling and enduring? How have they evolved over time, how have they been adapted in response to criticism? And how do they relate to shifting form of the governance and commodification of nature?

Drawing on critical theories of the capitalist valorization of nature, we argue that the compelling nature of these markets arises from the ideology of ecological modernization, in which green growth and ecological sustainability are seen as compatible and easily measurable. We further argue that the potential flaws and failures of these markets are legitimized by invoking new digital precision technologies as solutions to the challenges of carbon markets, with the promise to ultimately making them an effective solution to the climate crisis.