Founded in 2008, Credible Carbon is South Africa's first voluntary carbon registry. We sell credits from projects independently audited against carbon market standards approved by the UNFCCC, and pride ourselves on a transparent and robust system that gets as much money as possible to the projects and communities at the heart of Africa's climate change solution.
We only register projects that help alleviate poverty. Avoiding emissions is your first responsibility. When emissions are unavoidable, buying an offset from a verified emission reduction project makes taking action affordable.
Credible Carbon was designed from the start to support projects rather than to generate returns for the registry itself. We constantly seek to reduce the transaction costs for small, poverty-alleviating projects that also reduce greenhouse gas emissions using our independently reviewed methodologies.
We understand that the principals in a carbon market are the buyers and the sellers. We are simply a necessary transaction cost and we aim to make our process as streamlined as possible without compromising market integrity or the fungibility of our credits.
We pride ourselves that across our projects at least 60% of net carbon revenue is returned to the project beneficiaries as cash or reinvestment. In the period 2008 to 2023 we beat this target and returned an average of 80% of carbon revenue to projects, after audit fees, legal costs and registry fees.
The standard is simple and requires projects to answer four grounding questions, giving buyers the type and quality of information they require about our offsets.
Read the standardOur four approved methodologies cover waste recycling, organic waste diversion, renewable energy and land and soil carbon. They are free to use and a public good.
View our methodologiesAll our projects are audited using our independently reviewed methodologies, applying simpler voluntary carbon market processes. Our audits are conducted by independent and recognised entities, always involve a site visit and beneficiary interviews, and cost between 10 and 100 times less than the alternatives.
Past audits have been conducted by the UCT Energy Research Centre, The Green House, SouthSouthNorth, Urban Earth and Carbon Calculated, all with a recognised reputation and an uncompromising track record of rigour. Meet our auditors
Anton is a development and ecological economist and Rhodes Scholar (Oxford), with postgraduate degrees in Economics and Environmental Change and Management. He is affiliated with the African Centre for Cities at UCT, is a Fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and was an IPCC Lead Author on SR1.5. He founded Credible Carbon in 2008 as South Africa's first voluntary carbon registry and continues to run Econologic, a development economics consultancy.
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Claire is a data scientist with a PhD in geospatial data science and climate change from the University of Stellenbosch. She brings expertise in applied machine learning, sustainability analytics and carbon project reporting to Credible Carbon's operations and registry development.
LinkedInTo ensure that Credible Carbon remains a global exemplar of how carbon markets can support climate justice, we have appointed an inaugural Technical Advisory Board. The board reflects the evolving governance of carbon markets and the imperative to ensure that carbon standards and registries remain accountable to the broader goal of reducing climate risks and supporting climate-resilient development.
Board member appointed to support the governance and integrity of the Credible Carbon standard and registry operations.
LinkedInBrowse our verified African projects and buy credits directly.