Climate fact
Carbon credit
A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide (or its equivalent in another greenhouse gas) that has been reduced, avoided, or removed from the atmosphere somewhere in the world, verified by an independent certification standard. Buying a credit means funding a specific project, such as protecting forests, restoring wetlands, or capturing methane, rather than removing your own emissions directly.
Carbon credit vs carbon offsetting
A carbon credit is the unit. Carbon offsetting is the practice of using credits to fund emissions reductions elsewhere for emissions you haven't been able to cut yourself. One credit doesn't cancel out one tonne of your own emissions in a literal sense. It funds a verified project that reduces or removes roughly that amount somewhere else.
What makes a credit credible
Not all credits are equal. The strongest credits are certified by an independent, third-party standard, such as Gold Standard or Verra, which verifies that the underlying project actually delivers the emissions reduction it claims, and that it wouldn't have happened anyway without the funding (often called "additionality").