An interdisciplinary team of Oxford University researchers - including those affiliated to the Oxford Martin School - have today released an update to flagship guidance on credible and net zero aligned carbon offsetting used by hundreds of organisations since its publication in 2020.

The revised ‘Oxford Offsetting Principles’ provide clarifications to the original text based on the latest science, call for a major course-correction in carbon markets and offsetting practices, and outline how offsetting needs to be approached to help achieve a net zero society.

The Principles are: 

1. Cut emissions as a priority, ensure the environmental integrity of credits, and regularly revise as best practice evolves 
2. Transition to carbon removal offsetting for any residual emissions (away from emissions avoidance or reduction) by the global net zero target date
3. Shift to removals with durable storage and low risk of reversal   
4. Support the development of innovative and integrated approaches to achieving net zero

Co-author Professor Nick Eyre from Zero-carbon Energy Research Oxford (ZERO) said:

'The revised Principles emphasise the importance of reducing emissions, consistent with recent global agreements to scale up the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the transition away from fossil fuels. For organisations seeking to meet a net zero standard, this should be their priority.'

The updates further highlight the urgency of emission reductions and the need to scale up carbon removal, as well as the critical role of nature-based solutions. They also clarify durability risks and offer insights into the co-benefits and challenges of different carbon removal approaches, and call for mitigation efforts beyond organisational net zero targets.

‘The revised Principles are designed to correct some critical carbon market failures,’ said Kaya Axelsson, co-author, Head of Policy and Partnerships at Oxford Net Zero and Oxford Martin Fellow.

‘One little-known fact is that hardly any of the carbon market removes and stores carbon at all. Currently, the majority of carbon credits are for avoided emissions, and these are often over-credited or have trouble proving that they had an impact beyond what would have happened anyway.’

The revised Principles emphasise the importance of reducing emissions, consistent with recent global agreements to scale up the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the transition away from fossil fuels.

While the Principles provide a useful framework for offsetting strategies based on the latest science and evidence, regulation is now urgently needed, say the authors. Governments, standard setters and others must deploy them to steer the market away from low-quality credits and low-integrity offsetting strategies.

‘The demand for and supply of high-quality offsets is far too immature. Adopting the Oxford Offsetting Principles will help to attract investment into carbon removal projects that have a low risk of reversal, as well as durability over the long term. This is a necessary condition for achieving global net zero and the aims of the Paris Agreement,’ said Dr Ben Caldecott, co-author, Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and Oxford Martin Senior Fellow.

‘Realism is required though. We will never be able to scale enough high-quality carbon removals to offset like-for-like currently avoidable fossil fuel emissions. The use of finite carbon removals needs to be preserved for hard-to-abate emissions and then bringing us back to safe levels after we almost certainly overshoot 1.5 degrees, and not sustaining existing fossil fuel interests.’

The Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting (revised 2024) were devised through collaboration with experts across the University of Oxford. They incorporate expertise from the Blavatnik School of Government, Environmental Change Institute, Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Oxford Martin School, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Saïd Business School, School of Geography and the Environment, and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.