Kathmandu, 28 July - Experts and policy advocates are calling for significant reforms to global carbon markets, arguing that their long-term success depends on ensuring that communities in the Global South become the primary beneficiaries of carbon finance while strengthening transparency, scientific integrity, and national oversight.
As voluntary and compliance carbon markets continue to expand, concerns remain over whether the financial benefits are reaching Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and landowners who protect forests and other carbon-rich ecosystems. Analysts say a greater share of revenue generated from carbon credit sales should flow directly to local stewards instead of being absorbed by project developers, intermediaries, or distant investors.
A community-centred approach also calls for stronger safeguards around consent. Experts recommend replacing long-term contracts that may bind communities for decades with agreements that are shorter in duration or genuinely renewable, ensuring that participation remains voluntary and informed. They further argue that conservation efforts should improve local livelihoods by making sustainable land management more economically attractive than activities such as deforestation, unsustainable logging, or extensive cattle grazing through investment in alternative income opportunities.
Alongside community-focused reforms, specialists are urging governments to strengthen national governance of carbon markets. They recommend empowering countries in the Global South to define carbon rights, enforce the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and ensure that carbon projects align with national development priorities and climate commitments.
Experts also stress the importance of adopting high-integrity carbon accounting systems. They advocate replacing uncertain baseline projections with direct, scientifically verifiable measurements wherever feasible to improve the credibility of carbon credits, accurately quantify greenhouse gas removals, and reduce the risk of greenwashing.
In addition, transparent national carbon registries are being promoted as an essential tool to prevent double counting of emissions reductions and to improve accountability across both domestic and international carbon trading systems.
As countries work towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement while expanding climate finance, many experts believe that carbon markets will only maintain public trust and deliver lasting climate benefits if they are built on fairness, transparency, rigorous science, and equitable benefit-sharing that places local communities at the centre of conservation and sustainable development.
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