Strengthening credibility in a growing market
It takes a lot for projects to meet our requirements. But we believe the industry, and our customers, should expect nothing less.
Should you buy or build?
Shell and BCG’s report sets out a practical framework for businesses participating in the voluntary carbon market.
Ensuring high-quality nature-based carbon credits
A report looking at the lessons learnt over the last decade in the market and the steps Shell’s taken to help ensure high-quality carbon credits.
Carbon credits
Carbon credits are generated by projects that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This is done by either removing CO2 or avoiding an emission that would otherwise have occurred.
Commitment to quality
It’s not just about choosing one credit over another based simply on a credit’s certification. We develop strong relationships with projects where our customers want to build brand association. We go beyond in our due diligence to provide credits that match up to their promises.
Why Shell
We’ve built a dedicated environmental products team that can help companies use carbon credits as part of their decarbonising journey – a team that brings the scale, flexibility, and long-term partnership that our customers need.
Contact Us
We care a lot about carbon credits and how they can help. Let's make a difference with carbon credits.
An outlook on the voluntary carbon market
Developed in collaboration with BCG and reflecting the views of more than 100 industry experts.
A new report looking at the voluntary carbon market today, examining the factors that will shape it's development, and setting out the characteristics of the voluntary market of the future.
Our portfolio
Our portfolio of carbon credits is drawn from a range of projects across the world that use proven methodologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere, or avoid or reduce emissions.
We work with projects, like the three examples below, that deliver positive impacts on local communities, biodiversity and habitats, as well as clear emissions reductions or removal that meet the criteria of independent carbon credit standards.
Qinghai Afforestation Project
Located on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China, the Qinghai Afforestation Project covers an area of over 2.1 million hectares.
Over the recent decades, much of this land has suffered from desertification – the transformation of arable healthy ecosystems into desert, degraded by deforestation, overgrazing of livestock and overuse of water.
By planting trees, the projects help to improve soil quality and preserve water, preventing further damage and enabling local communities to continue farming, as well as providing jobs and extending valuable habitat.
The three projects in Haidong City and Xining City will grow 39,600 hectares of new forest and a further 2.1 million hectares will be managed to promote and conserve biodiversity. This includes protecting the habitat of two critically endangered species, the Alpine Musk Deer and the Saker Falcon, both native to the area.
Through the planting and preserving of forest, these are expected to remove and store over 1.865 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
These projects, developed by Shell along with Qinghai Forestry Bureau, are independently verified under the VCS and CCB standards.
The Guatemalan Conservation Coast
The Guatemalan Conservation Coast Project is located in Izabal on a stretch of Caribbean Coast, under threat from deforestation and unsustainable land use activities such as ‘slash and burn’ agriculture and cattle ranching.
The project brings together hundreds of landowners to protect parcels of forest that together make up a total of 60,000 hectares.
As well as carbon emission avoidance, the project impact is linked to 12 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and protects the habitats of 30 high conservation value species, including Jaguar, Baird’s Tapir and the West Indian Manatee.
Activities on the ground to support sustainable livelihoods include working with local farmers, as well as developing the coastline into a thriving eco-tourism hub. In addition, protecting forests along coastlines can help in coastal defence and disaster risk reduction for local communities.
The project has already contributed to the creation or support of 716 jobs, 30% of which are held by women.
The project is verified under the VCS and CCB standards, aims to avoid the emission of 6.1 million tonnes of CO2 in 2021.
The Breathing Space Improved Cooking Stoves Programme
Traditional cooking methods in much of India are harmful to people’s health – especially women who most often prepare meals. Typical cooking stoves cause indoor air pollution, which kills over a million people each year in India alone. Many of these stoves also require a lot of firewood, further depleting natural forests and emitting dangerous greenhouse gases.
Developed by Envirofit International Limited, The Breathing Space Improved Cooking Stoves Programme operates across India and to provide households with cleaner burning, energy efficient cook stoves.
The stoves reduce smoke and toxic emissions by up to 80% and bring household air pollution down to 46% below the World Health Organisation’s exposure limit.Fuel use is also reduced by up to 60% which reduces a family’s time needed for firewood collection.
By helping ensure healthy lives and promoting wellbeing, the project supports goal 3 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, as well as goals 13 and 15, through protecting and promoting sustainable use of ecosystems.
The project is verified by Gold Standard and reduces the emission of 110,000 tonnes of CO2e annually.
Looking for net zero?
Businesses across the planet, of all shapes and sizes, from every sector, are joining together in taking action. The complexities of reaching net zero require a sophisticated and multifaceted response. Carbon credits are only part of the story. But more and more businesses are recognising that carbon credits can making a difference for their customers, their employees and their decarbonisation journey.
