illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Conversation or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Carbon markets are under scrutiny due to their reputation for low-integrity offset projects
• An investigation found that 94% of credits from rainforest protection projects had no climate benefit
• The market's issues are attributed to invisible, unregulated commodities and projects that fail to provide promised benefits

🔭 The context: Deforestation credits, often based on faulty accounting, make up the majority of dubious credits 
• These issues, coupled with a lack of regulation and quality discernment by buyers, contribute to a market filled with "lemons"

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The current practices in carbon offsetting are inadequate for meeting the urgent need to limit global warming to 1.5°C
• A significant reform in carbon markets is necessary to ensure high-integrity carbon removal and long-lasting solutions to combat climate change effectively

⏭️ What's next: The University of Oxford proposes three evidence-based principles to overhaul carbon markets: prioritizing direct emissions cuts, scaling up high-integrity carbon removal, and investing in long-lasting solutions
• These principles aim to guide purchasers and reform the market towards more reliable and impactful climate action

📈 One stat: Fewer than 4% of carbon credits are generated by projects that remove (and safely store) excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

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