The Evolution of the Voluntary Carbon Market to a Robust Tool for Tackling Climate Change: A Timeline

Verra is pleased to share with you an interactive timeline graphic on the “Evolution of the Voluntary Carbon Market” that was released by a working group of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA).

The Voluntary Carbon Market is a robust and effective means to tackle climate change. Over the years, it has undergone many changes: from an early phase that was characterized by pioneering new approaches for fighting climate change, to a second phase in which the market’s infrastructure and best practice evolved to ensure quality and credibility, to the current phase in which the market has become a mainstream tool for driving finance to projects which deliver independently verified and additional emissions reductions on a global scale.

The milestones in this graphic are not meant to represent a complete and comprehensive history of the voluntary carbon market; instead, these milestones constitute significant actions at the regulatory, market, and standards level that are indicative of the advances the market has undergone at various stages.