Two credits can both say "one tonne" and mean very different things. This page covers what separates a high-quality credit from a weak one, what CTX does on the exchange, and the questions to ask before you buy any credit, anywhere.
Standards, regulators and independent bodies such as the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) describe quality in slightly different words. The same ideas run through all of them.
The reduction or removal would not have happened without the money from selling credits. If the project was going ahead anyway, for legal or commercial reasons, the credit does not represent anything new. Additionality is judged against a baseline, which should be realistic and conservative.
Stored carbon should stay stored. Where it could be released, for example by a forest fire, the risk should be managed, often through a buffer pool of credits held in reserve.
An accredited third party checks the project's results before credits are issued, against an approved methodology.
Each tonne is issued once, held by one owner and claimed once. Unique serial numbers and registry retirement make that checkable.
Good projects do no harm to local people or nature, and many bring wider benefits, such as jobs, cleaner air or protected habitat.
An exchange cannot make a weak credit strong. It can make sure the credit you buy is real, is what was listed, and arrives in your account.
Credits on the exchange come from projects certified under recognised standards and held in established registries, including the UNFCCC CDM Registry, Gold Standard, the Global Carbon Registry, BioCarbon and the Universal Carbon Registry.
CTX connects directly to the registries, so every trade is delivered registry to registry. You always know which registry holds your credits.
Trades settle on T+0. Delivery of the credits and payment of the proceeds are both guaranteed, so neither side carries counterparty or non-delivery risk.
Live market pricing, with trade data and reports you can export for your own records, reporting and audits.
Every member trades under the same published CTX Rules and Fee Structure, and every member completes identity checks before trading.
The exchange runs on Microsoft Azure's SOC 2-audited cloud.
CTX's position is that the exchange meets every action set out by the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), the private-sector initiative sponsored by the Institute of International Finance to build transparent, high-integrity carbon markets.
Put these to any seller, on any platform. Most of the answers should be on the public registry record or in the project documents.
1. Would the project have gone ahead without income from carbon credits, and how was that tested?
2. What baseline is the project measured against, and is it conservative?
3. Which methodology, and which version of it, applies? Is it still approved by the standard?
4. Has leakage, meaning emissions simply moving somewhere else, been accounted for?
5. Which accredited body verified this issuance, and when?
6. Can I read the project documents and verification reports on the registry?
7. Which monitoring period does this vintage come from?
8. For storage projects, how long is the carbon expected to stay stored, and what keeps it there?
9. If it is released, who replaces the lost tonnes? Is there a buffer pool, and how is it sized?
10. Which registry holds the credit, and what are its serial numbers?
11. Will the credits be delivered to my registry account, or retired in my name with a record I can see?
12. If the credit will count towards a national target under Article 6, has the host country authorised the transfer and applied a corresponding adjustment?
13. What co-benefits does the project claim, and has anyone independent checked them?
14. Were local communities consulted, and is there a way for them to raise grievances?
15. Does the credit carry any independent quality label or eligibility, such as ICVCM approval or CORSIA eligibility, that matters for your claim?
Standards and registries CTX works with
Buy with confidence
Open an account to trade, or talk to our team about the credits listed on the exchange.