Carbon credit retirements surged at end of 2022, signalling the market will have to work to keep up with demand.

On social media …unedited:

Wow. What a way to end the year for #carbonmarkets. At 22.9 million tonnes, December obliterated the previous monthly record for emissions offset retirements (previous high was around 15.5 million).

Not included in that calc are the 20 million tonnes or so retired through KlimaDAO in Q4 2021 (crudely circled in the chart), as these were used for a speculative crypto purpose, not a bona fide emissions offset purpose.

Overall ex-Klima, retirements are up significantly year-on-year, which is kind of amazing – and very heartening – given that happened amongst a backdrop of the war in Ukraine, massive energy insecurity, generational inflation and broader geopolitical unrest.

Maybe climate commitments are stickier than we thought. I really hope so, and I’m looking forward to what 2023 brings…

Data from ClearBlue Markets

HappyNewYear