Carbon credits and carbon offsets get used almost interchangeably in everyday conversation, and searches for exactly this question have risen sharply over the past month, in English, Italian, and beyond. Here is what these terms actually mean, how they relate to each other, and how the market behind them actually works.
- A credit is the unit, an offset is the act. A registry issues a credit for one tonne. A buyer creates an offset by retiring it.
- Every legitimate credit traces back to a named project on one of seven major registries, with a methodology and third party verification behind it.
- Issuance and retirement are different numbers and the gap between them is the single most useful thing to check.
- Compliance prices are published, voluntary prices are not. Anyone quoting a confident single price for a voluntary credit is estimating.
- CRBN.CREDIT is a research platform. It does not sell, broker or settle credits, and nothing on it is a transaction.
The Short Answer
A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases, that has either been prevented from entering the atmosphere or removed from it. A carbon offset is what happens when someone buys and retires a credit to compensate for their own emissions.
So a credit is the unit, an offset is the act of using it. In practice most people use both words for the same thing, and that is fine. The distinction starts to matter once you read registry documentation, because registries issue credits, and buyers create offsets by retiring them.
Where Credits Actually Come From
Every legitimate carbon credit traces back to a specific project, verified and registered with one of a small number of major registries: Verra, Gold Standard, the American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, ART TREES, Cercarbono, and Isometric. These registries apply methodologies, independent third party verification, and issuance rules before a project's emissions reduction or removal becomes an actual tradeable credit.
Project types range enormously. Forest protection and reforestation, methane capture from landfills or agriculture, renewable energy in regions still reliant on fossil fuels, and newer removal categories like biochar and direct air capture all sit under the same broad heading, despite behaving very differently in terms of durability and risk.
Want to see the actual projects?
The CRBN.CREDIT projects database carries registry-reported issuance and retirement figures across 11,659 tracked projects and seven registries, including which registry issued each one.
Issued Versus Retired, the Distinction That Actually Matters
This is the single most useful thing to understand if you are trying to evaluate whether a carbon credit claim is meaningful.
Issuance is a registry crediting a project for a certain number of tonnes. Retirement is a buyer permanently claiming and using those credits, taking them out of circulation for good. A project can have millions of tonnes issued and comparatively little retired. That is not automatically a red flag, but it is a number worth checking rather than assuming.
Across the whole database, the gap is substantial:
| Measure | Tonnes CO2e | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Issued | 2.82 billion | Registries have credited projects for this much in total |
| Retired | 1.59 billion | Buyers have permanently claimed and cancelled this much |
| Still outstanding | 1.23 billion | Issued but not yet retired, so still in circulation |
← Scroll table horizontally on mobile
That works out to roughly 56 percent of all credits ever issued having actually been retired. Figures are registry-reported and reflect the database snapshot dated 1 June 2026.
The practical version of this: when someone tells you a project has generated a large number of credits, ask how many have been retired. Issuance describes what a registry approved. Retirement describes what somebody actually used. A project with heavy issuance and almost no retirement is not necessarily bad, but it is a question worth asking before money moves, and it takes about a minute to check.
Voluntary Versus Compliance Markets
Carbon credits exist in two largely separate systems.
Compliance markets, like the EU Emissions Trading System, are government mandated, legally binding, and have publicly published prices. You can see the live EU ETS allowance price directly on the CRBN.CREDIT carbon prices page, updated automatically.
Voluntary markets, where most of the project types described above trade, are not price transparent in the same way. Transaction data is generally held by commercial reporting services rather than published openly.
That is worth knowing before anyone tells you a specific, confident price for a voluntary carbon credit. Real transaction prices in this market are genuinely hard to access, not something any platform can simply publish for free. Our data methodology page sets out exactly which figures are published, which are derived, and which are not available at all.
A Note on Where CRBN.CREDIT Fits Into This
CRBN.CREDIT aggregates and structures this data, registry records, project details, and published compliance prices, into research and analysis tools. It does not execute trades, broker transactions, or sell carbon credits directly. If you are looking to actually buy or sell, that happens through a registry, a project developer, a broker, or an exchange, not through this platform.
What CRBN.CREDIT is built for is understanding the market clearly enough to make that decision with real information behind it. If the next question is how people actually gain exposure to this market, that is covered separately in how to invest in carbon credits. If you have a specific project in front of you, the due diligence checklist is the practical next step, and the registry comparison explains how the major registries differ.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a carbon credit and a carbon offset?
A carbon credit is the unit representing one tonne of avoided or removed CO2, issued by a registry. A carbon offset is what happens when a credit is purchased and retired to compensate for emissions. In casual use, the terms are largely interchangeable.
Are carbon credits and carbon offsets the same thing?
Functionally, yes, in most everyday usage. Technically, a credit is issued, an offset is the act of retiring one.
How do I know if a carbon credit is legitimate?
Check that it is registered with a recognised registry such as Verra, Gold Standard, or the American Carbon Registry, and look at its actual issuance and retirement numbers rather than relying on marketing claims alone.
Can I buy carbon credits directly through CRBN.CREDIT?
No. CRBN.CREDIT provides data, research, and analytics on carbon markets. It does not execute trades or sell carbon credits. Actual purchases happen through registries, project developers, brokers, or exchanges.
Where can I see real carbon credit project data?
The CRBN.CREDIT projects database tracks 11,659 real projects across seven major registries, with registry-reported issuance and retirement figures for each.
A note on this article. This is general market information for research purposes and is not investment advice. Issuance and retirement figures referenced here are registry-reported and reflect the database snapshot dated 1 June 2026, not CRBN.CREDIT's own assessment of project quality.