Biden Administration Seeks to Expand Carbon Credit Markets

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration announced its latest attempt at pushing a so-called “green energy” agenda: Enabling more “carbon credit markets.”

According to Axios, such carbon credit markets attempt to help companies cut emissions in exchange for funding renewable projects and other “green” initiatives. The Biden Administration’s announcement included a list of principles for “responsible participation” in “high integrity” voluntary carbon markets (VCMs).

In her statement, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared that VCMs could “help unlock the power of private markets to reduce emissions,” but only provided that “significant existing challenges” are dealt with first.

The “principles” listed by the Biden White House include ensuring the implementation of credit-generation projects which enact CO2 cuts that otherwise wouldn’t have taken place, with results that can be verified by a third party. Other requirements include a guarantee that projects do not harm local communities, and that corporate buyers will prioritize credits that cut emissions from their own value chains.

VCMs currently make up a small part of the market, accounting for just $2 billion annually. This is due in large part to numerous investigations and studies confirming that such companies either cannot verify carbon cuts, or fail to even deliver on cuts in the first place.

The rollout marks just the latest example of federal agencies’ involvement in Biden’s ever-increasing obsession with “green” initiatives. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is already funding “climate smart” practices which create credits, as well as a program specifically targeting farmers and ranchers to try to force their involvement in VCMs. The Department of Energy (DOE) is also engaged in carbon reduction projects, including efforts to link credit buyers and sellers, and hosting a $35 million competition incentivizing companies to sell removal credits to the agency itself.