What happened

At 07:00 on Thursday 12 November 2026, during the COP31 climate talks, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Defra and HM Treasury published their government response to the consultation on raising integrity in voluntary carbon and nature markets, which ran from April to July 2025 and drew 200 responses. The main points for businesses:

  • Two quality benchmarks. The government treats the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's Core Carbon Principles and the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism as the key benchmarks for high-integrity credits, and encourages buyers to choose credits that meet one or both where they exist.
  • Three endorsed uses. Taking responsibility for ongoing emissions (as in the Science Based Targets initiative's Corporate Net Zero Standard version 2.0), counterbalancing residual emissions at net zero with high-quality, durable removal credits, and addressing historical emissions.
  • Guidance in spring 2027. Step-by-step guidance covering planning, choosing credits, disclosure and retirement will replace the carbon market parts of the Environmental Reporting Guidelines, the guidance behind Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting, and review how they treat claims from international and UK credits differently.
  • No UK claims standard. The government says a UK-specific claims standard, or a law defining "carbon neutral", would not be helpful in an international market. It will back international standards instead.
  • Protection for careful buyers. It will consider incentives for organisations that follow the guidance, and "safe harbour" protections against legal and reputational risk, once the International Emissions Trading Association reports on options.
  • A regulator forum. A new UK Carbon and Nature Markets Regulator Forum will coordinate oversight. The Advertising Standards Authority will be part of it.

What it means for your business

Nothing becomes compulsory. Buying credits stays voluntary, and the response repeats that credits should complement, not replace, cutting emissions at source. What changes is that a business which does buy credits will have official UK guidance to follow from spring 2027, and two named benchmarks to check credits against now.

The response is also clear on reporting: purchased credits are generally reported separately and cannot be deducted from a greenhouse gas inventory. Take an illustrative office and workshop using 120,000 kWh of electricity and 250,000 kWh of mains gas a year. Under the 2026 government factors that is 15.72 tonnes CO2e of Scope 2 and 45.58 tonnes of Scope 1, 61.29 tonnes in all. If it retires 61 tonnes of credits, its reported Scope 1 and 2 total is still 61.29 tonnes. The credits go on a separate line, with their type, standard and retirement record.

It matters for marketing too. The ASA ruled against "carbon neutral delivery" ads this week (our report), and it will now sit on the government's regulator forum. Claims based on credits will be judged against the ASA's rules and international standards, not a UK definition.

What to do now

  • Report gross emissions. Keep your Scope 1, 2 and 3 totals before any credits, and list credits separately. That is what the response describes and what the GHG Protocol already asks for.
  • Check any credits you hold or plan to buy against the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles or the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism, and keep the retirement records.
  • Cut first. The endorsed uses all sit alongside real reductions. Our guide to offsetting for business and offsets vs removals explainer cover the difference between avoidance and removal credits.
  • Review green claims. If your website or packaging says "carbon neutral" because of credits, check it against the ASA's guidance now rather than waiting for spring 2027.