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UK Voluntary Carbon Market Guide: Best Practices for Climate Action

The voluntary carbon market plays an important role in corporate climate strategies – but its effectiveness relies on buyers doing due diligence and rigorous quality assessment on each project, as well as placing the purchase of credits in the right place in the climate journey.
To ensure meaningful climate impact, businesses must develop a comprehensive carbon strategy and find ways to fund only high-quality credits in the voluntary carbon market – and this guide shows you how to do so with Ecologi.

<h2>Table of contents</h2>
<ul>
<li>When to buy carbon credits</li>
<li>Our new carbon projects assessment framework</li>
<li>Ecologi&#8217;s core due diligence principles</li>
<li>How Ecologi scores and ranks carbon credit projects</li>
<li>Questions to ask your carbon credit supplier</li>
<li>Take action in the voluntary carbon market</li>
</ul>

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<h2>When should businesses buy carbon credits in the voluntary market?</h2>
Businesses must not use credits in place of making direct, measurable reductions in their emissions. Instead, follow these steps to ensure you buy your carbon credits on the right step of your corporate climate action journey, and in the right way:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Measure your emissions first – to allow you to understand where your business’s emissions are coming from. 
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Set science-based targets and work towards them – set ambitious targets aligned with the SBTi and compatible with the global 1.5ºC warming target.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM) – design your BVCM portfolio to work alongside your decarbonisation plan and address your unabated emissions in each reporting year. Align it with SBTi guidance and the Oxford Principles. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Buy high-quality carbon credits – use this guide to ensure the carbon credits you buy meet rigorous quality standards. Remember, under the SBTi framework you’ll also need permanent carbon removal credits for neutralising your residual emissions when you reach your net-zero date.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Disclose and report transparently – publicly disclose information about your carbon credit purchases, and clearly communicate the limited role of carbon credits in your broader sustainability strategy.</li>
</ol>

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<h2>Ecologi&#8217;s carbon project assessment framework</h2>
In April 2025, we published a report summarising how we assess carbon credit projects against our rigorous proprietary rubric. A snapshot of what goes into our carbon credit project assessment is below, or you <a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250428124112/Ecologi_Whitepaper_A4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">download the full whitepaper here</a>.

<h2>Carbon project due diligence: Ecologi’s core principles</h2>
At Ecologi, we maintain general due diligence principles which we apply universally across the voluntary carbon market, to support our efforts to supply only high-quality carbon credits.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">ICROA-endorsed standards only – we supply credits exclusively from carbon standards which are ICROA-endorsed.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Responsive to ICVCM decisions – we support the ICVCM’s two-tick approach to providing CCP-Approval to project methodologies, and we go further still, to assess individual projects on their merits and limitations as well.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Keep the carbon credit life cycle as short as possible – 75% of our credits in 2024 came directly from project developers and their nominated dispensaries (as opposed to intermediaries on the secondary market), maximising the proportion of purchase price which goes to the developer.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Locally-appropriate projects only – we take care to ensure that supported projects are being applied in appropriate geographies, where they can have the greatest impact.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Deep project-level scrutiny – our extensive assessment criteria are specific to each type of project, and we assess every project against these criteria, ensuring the project’s specifics have been taken into account.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Methodological consensus – we synthesise data we receive from our partners Sylvera, BeZero Carbon, Calyx Global and Renoster) with our own in-house analysis to uncover where there is consensus about project quality, and improve confidence.</li>
</ul>

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<h2>How to evaluate carbon credits: Ecologi&#8217;s scoring methodology</h2>
We designed a three-layer assessment process which takes into account the merits and limitations of the carbon standard used, the carbon credit methodology used, and of the individual project design.
The tables below summarise some of the data inputs we use at each stage.

<h3>Assessment level: Carbon Standard</h3>
Examples: Gold Standard, Verra, Puro Earth, Isometric, Plan Vivo.

<h3>Assessment level: Methodology (or ‘Protocol’)</h3>
Examples: GS TPDDTEC, VM0048, ACM0002.

<h3>Assessment level: Project</h3>
Examples: GS 10790, VCS 1571.

Criteria in the assessment are categorised as either quality criteria or risk criteria, and are segmented by our three pillars of impact: Climate, Nature and People. Based on how it meets each criterion, the project gains points for quality criteria, and loses points for excess risk – ultimately giving a risk-adjusted value out of 100 for each of these pillars.
Having gathered our risk-adjusted pillar scores, we use our own unique scoring formula which weights the risk-adjusted Climate score of the project equally with the combined risk-adjusted Nature and People scores. The formula then produces an ‘overall’ score (also out of 100) for the project. In order to be supplied by Ecologi, projects must meet a minimum overall score of 80, and must achieve no lower than 65 in any given risk-adjusted pillar score.

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<h2>Key questions to ask carbon credit suppliers</h2>
Selecting the right carbon credit provider is important to help guide you to make informed choices as part of your corporate sustainability strategy. Before purchasing carbon credits, businesses should ask:
<h3>Project quality </h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you assess/validate/underwrite project quality? If so, how?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do your projects get good ratings from the ratings agencies? If so, what ratings are they?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you source credits directly from project developers, or from the secondary market?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you monitor projects over time to ensure continued success, and how do you remedy it, if a project&#8217;s quality drops?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Due diligence</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you ensure you are supporting the right projects in the right locations?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you account for project permanence and mitigate risks?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What makes your projects additional?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you assess the project&#8217;s impacts on climate, nature and people?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Positioning</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you contribute to the development of a high integrity voluntary carbon market?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you align your portfolios with the Oxford Principles? If so, how?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you reflect ICVCM guidance on carbon credit methodologies and technologies?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you build multi-year portfolios that align to mid- &amp; long-term SBTs?</li>
</ul>
As the voluntary carbon market evolves, corporate buyers have the power and the responsibility to demand high-impact credits to drive real climate progress. This means buyers have a responsibility to do due diligence before placing an order for carbon credits.

<h2>Take action in the voluntary carbon market</h2>
As a business committed to corporate climate action, understanding the voluntary carbon market is essential for making informed decisions about carbon credits. Our comprehensive whitepaper provides deeper insights into creating an effective sustainability strategy.
<a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250428124112/Ecologi_Whitepaper_A4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download our full whitepaper</a> to learn how your business can navigate the voluntary carbon market with confidence.

<h2>Connect with one of our climate experts</h2>
Please complete our form to arrange a 30-minute discovery call to discuss your goals and get a tailored solution for your business.

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The Good News timeline

It’s not all bad. While there’s a lot of negative news about the climate, let’s not forget the good stuff. Find climate wins, reasons to be hopeful and plenty of positivity in our good news timeline.

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Ready to make a difference for our planet? Get in touch, and let’s chat about how we can help you on your climate journey. 

Impact Reports

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Ecologi Impact Report 2024

Each year, we publish our Impact Report to share the tangible difference our community has helped create. Our 2024 report not only highlights the progress of the projects the Ecologi community has supported over the past twelve months, it also includes, for the first time, our own greenhouse gas inventory and emissions management plan.
You can read the full report below, or stay with us here for a quick snapshot of the most impactful numbers and milestones from last year.

<h3>Read the full 2024 Impact Report</h3>
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<h2>87 million trees funded to date</h2>
In 2024, the Ecologi community funded 9.97 million trees through reforestation projects across 13 countries and 5 continents, bringing our all-time total to over 87 million trees.
We worked with 10 dedicated partners – including two recognised as UN World Restoration Flagships, Acción Andina and Trees for the Future &#8211; to restore degraded and threatened forests. These projects not only support climate resilience and biodiversity, but also positively contribute to over 47,800 livelihoods around the world.

<h2>19,500 m2 wildflower, wetlands and wildlife habitat funded for restoration in 2024</h2>
From the peatlands of the Isle of Skye to the slopes of Dumyat, our dedicated <a href="https://ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-wildflowers-wetlands-and-wildlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wildflower, Wetlands and Wildlife</a> restoration project supported community-led efforts to revive native ecosystems and protect biodiversity. 
At the Uigshader Living Forest Project, once a commercial timber site, native trees planted with Ecologi funding are thriving with signs of natural regeneration and native species, such as the eared willow (Salix aurita) returning. 
Meanwhile, at Dumyat, the reintroduction of wildflowers and targeted restoration work has already made a visible impact. Rare species are returning, including the Northern Brown Argus (Aricia artaxerxes) which was spotted close to the site after a century-long absence, and the Sticky Catchfly (Viscaria vulgaris), one of the UK’s rarest plants, now flourishing thanks to restoration efforts.
This work wouldn’t be possible without our project partner, the Future Forest Company, and the continued support of our community. Together, we can restore habitats, protect vulnerable species, and drive forward nature-based solutions that are critical in our fight against climate change.

<h2>548,200 tCO2e emissions avoidance funded in 2024</h2>
Last year, the Ecologi community prevented over 560,000 tonnes of carbon emissions through a diverse portfolio of high-impact projects.
This includes more than 179,000 tonnes through landfill gas capture initiatives &#8211; some of the first globally to receive the new CCP-Approved label from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market.
Ecologi also funded over 330,000 tonnes of emissions avoidance through nature-based forest protection projects across Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia, helping safeguard tropical peatlands and biodiversity hotspots while preserving vital carbon stores. An additional 53,000 tonnes of emissions were avoided through community-based initiatives, including fuel-efficient cookstove projects in Uganda and Kenya. These efforts reduce deforestation and pollution and deliver meaningful health and social outcomes.

<h2>21,200 tCO2 carbon dioxide removal funded in 2024</h2>
Carbon removal remains one of the most emerging areas in the voluntary carbon market, with innovative technologies still scaling and costs remaining high. Despite these challenges, the Ecologi community funded over 21,000 tonnes of carbon removal in 2024, helping to accelerate progress in this vital area of climate action.
One such initiative is Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), a nature-based solution developed by our partner UNDO. This process involves spreading finely crushed silicate rock, such as basalt, onto agricultural land, where it reacts with CO₂ in the atmosphere and locks it away for centuries.
Since launching ERW projects in July 2024, our community has funded 105 tonnes of carbon removal through this method. With the potential to remove billions of tonnes of CO₂ annually, Enhanced Rock Weathering represents an exciting step forward in the race to scale durable, science-backed carbon removal.

<h2>Our Greenhouse Gas Inventory </h2>
As part of our commitment to transparency and accountability, we’ve completed our greenhouse gas inventory for the past two years. In 2023, our total emissions were 1,993.37 tCO₂e, and 1,584.65 tCO₂e in 2024 
Whilst not common practice in our industry, we’ve chosen to include the emissions from our impact projects &#8211; both those that generate carbon credits, and those that don&#8217;t into our Scope 3 reporting, despite the challenges in quantifying them accurately. These projects play a central role in our business, and we believe in taking responsibility to try our best to estimate these emissions, rather than omitting them entirely. By using a spend-based methodology, we are taking a transparent step towards capturing the full impact of our operations, even if the current approach has its limitations, particularly around the use of financial proxies. 
Within our reporting, this remains our biggest area of uncertainty and will be a key area of focus moving forwards, with a primary objective to transition to the activity-based methodology whereby primary data can be applied. 
This inventory forms the foundation of our emissions management plan, helping us track progress and identify areas for continued reduction across our operations. To learn more about our approach to preparing our inventory and how we plan to focus on the betterment of data collection in the future, to reduce our reliance on assumptions and proxies, click the link below.

<h2>Read more stats and stories in our full Impact Report</h2>
This blog offers just a snapshot of what we’ve accomplished over the past 12 months. To explore the full picture, including detailed insights, impact data, and stories from the projects we’ve supported, dive into the full Impact Report which you can view <a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250422095731/Ecologi_Impact_Report_2024_-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

<h2>Ready to take the lead in climate action?</h2>
Fill in the form below to book a 30 minute discovery call with our climate experts and find out more about working with Ecologi to measure your emissions, set reduction goals and fund high-quality climate action.

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UK Voluntary Carbon Market Guide: Best Practices for Corporate Climate Action

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Impact Report 2024: A year of impact for our planet

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