Weeks ago, an alleged fraud case involving three carbon offsetting projects approved by the world’s leading certifier Verra in the Brazilian state of Pará was exposed by the Brazilian press.
In addition to misalignments between project developers and local beneficiary communities, the main flaw in these projects is that the land documentation was not in order — public lands were confused (or used in bad faith) as private lands listed in the projects. This and other cases recently brought to light by publications such as The Guardian and The New Yorker raised questions about the reliability of the voluntary carbon market.
Washington-based Verra has approved about three-quarters of all offset projects in this market. But an investigation by the Guardian, German weekly Die Zeit, and non-profit SourceMaterial said earlier...
Search
