Voluntary Carbon Market Retirements for 2023

As we close 2023, it’s time to delve into the retirement and issuance data for VCS, GS, ACR, and CAR, comparing it to the figures from two previous years.

Key insights:

• 2023 marked the highest retirement year on record, with 163 million retirements compared to 153 million tCO2 in 2022 and 160 million tCO2 in 2021.
• December 2023 also set a new record for the highest retirement month ever, with 36.7 million tCO2 retirements.
• Issuances in 2023 were significantly lower at 285 million tCO2, compared to 373 million tCO2 in 2021 and 320 million tCO2 in 2022.
• There was a notable increase in retirements for various categories, including Blue Carbon (894,000 tCO2 vs 252,000 tCO2 in 2022 and 186,000 tCO2 in 2021), Gases Abatement (26 million tCO2 vs 17 million tCO2 in 2022 and 13 million tCO2 in 2021), Household Devices (16 million tCO2 vs 13 million tCO2 in 2022 and 9 million tCO2 in 2021), and Improved Forest Management (4.4 million tCO2 vs 3.1 million tCO2 in 2022 and 3.1 million tCO2 in 2021).
• Despite sustained demand in REDD/REDD+ resulting in retirements lower than 2021 but much higher than 2022, issuances were notably low, raising concerns about a potential shortage for recent vintages in the future.
• There was a significant increase in issuances for Household Devices (56 million tCO2 vs 25 million tCO2 in 2022 and 11 million tCO2 in 2021) and Improved Forest Management (25 million tCO2 vs 18 million tCO2 in 2022 and 17 million tCO2 in 2021).

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