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Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

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Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

Carbon Markets as Outsourced Mitigation: Smart Climate Strategy or Convenient Fiction?

April 01, 2026 • Tom Raftery • Season 1 • Episode 267

0:00 | 33:16

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What if voluntary carbon markets are either a vital climate tool... or a polished excuse to delay real decarbonisation?

In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Dr Jennifer Jenkins, Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon, to unpack one of the most contested questions in climate tech and net zero strategy: what role, if any, should voluntary carbon markets play in real-world emissions reduction? At a time when companies are under pressure to decarbonise, prove integrity, and navigate fast-moving policy shifts, this debate matters more than ever.

We dig into why some firms see carbon credits as a practical way to close the gap between ambition and operational reality, and why others see them as a dangerous distraction. You’ll hear why quality, additionality, MRV, and long-term offtake agreements are becoming central to the future of the market, and why high-integrity supply may be far tighter than many buyers realise.

Jennifer also explains how buyers like Microsoft are shaping demand, how voluntary and compliance markets may be starting to converge, and why policy tools like CBAM could reshape the market faster than most people expect. You might be shocked to learn that one of the clearest ways to think about this space is as outsourced mitigation, a framing that makes the economics easier to grasp, but also exposes the credibility problem at the heart of the whole system.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Jennifer Jenkins and Rubicon Carbon see the future of decarbonisation, climate tech, policy, and net zero.

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