Record number of companies sign net-zero targets. The first quarter of 2023 saw 780 companies sign net-zero targets, bringing the cumulative total number of companies with net-zero targets to 4,800. Despite this, the surplus of available credits in the market continues to grow, swelling to more than 800 million tons as issuances outpace the number of retirements.
REDD Project prices continue to soften. A surge in offset issuances for REDD projects has led to prices falling across the vintage curve. A Peruvian project issued more than 11 million offsets in the week of April 24. Prices have decreased this year following a report claiming some of the projects were over-credited.
Vitol and Nigeria to develop carbon project. Commodity trader Vitol and the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund have jointly signed a deal to develop a range of carbon avoidance and removal projects. An initial investment of $50 million has been pledged to support the creation of the project, with the first investment going towards a household energy efficiency program.
A total of 32.65 million offsets were issued in March, up from 26.77 million in February. Issuances have so far averaged about 32 million tons per month in 2023, which is higher than the five-year average of about 19 million tons per month.
Retirements fell by about 1.5 million tons to a total of 14.09 million in April. Retirements continue to be elevated relative to prior years but are still coming in lower than issuances.
In contrast to March, offsets from forestry projects were 57% of all offsets generated in April, up from 28%. A large portion of the forestry issuances were from REDD+ projects. Most of the offsets retired in April were from energy projects, while forestry and alternative energy projects represented the majority of other offsets retired.
More issuances and fewer retirements drove the bank of unused offsets higher. The total number of offsets available is approaching 1 billion tons.