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Integrity risks in carbon markets in Mozambique

Carbon markets are new mechanisms to regulate and reduce greenhouse gases; however, these are not fully yet fully transparent and some lack robust oversight. As such, these entail different integrity risks, particularly in countries with weak institutions and difficulties in enforcing sanctions. The challenges carbon markets posit should lead to more cooperation between countries and within them, especially as the issues require the coordination of several different sectors. Carbon markets might imply actors at very different levels, ranging from the local communities where some of the projects take place to the final company buying the carbon credit in a different country. Therefore, collaboration between levels of government, sectors and international actors might help identify and address the integrity issues.

Also available in Portuguese
4 March 2024
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Integrity risks in carbon markets in Mozambique

Main points

  • There are integrity, transparency and accountability risks in the carbon market including fraud and corruption (elite capture, bribery data manipulation, and undue influence over policy design and institutions).
  • One of the biggest risks is related to land, especially in the context of weak land tenure. In Africa, as in other parts of the Global South, a phenomenon called “green grabs”, where land grabs are justified in relation to the environment, has been linked to the development of carbon credits.
  • Because carbon offsetting requires the saving of emissions that would have otherwise occurred, the required counterfactual can be subject to speculation.
  • Double counting, by which a carbon offset is counted in favour of two different emitters, is an intrinsic problem of carbon markets that requires stronger international governance if the market is to accomplish the goal of reducing emissions.

Cite this publication


Camacho, G. (2024) Integrity risks in carbon markets in Mozambique. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Helpdesk Answer 2024:20)

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Gabriela Camacho

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All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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