Nations clinched the Paris Agreement six years ago but finished writing it only at COP26 in Glasgow this month. There, negotiators finally checked the box on something called “Article 6,” a section of the 2015 climate pact governing how countries can trade credits to emit CO₂ . The new standards should also impose structure and transparency on opaque voluntary markets where companies buy and sell carbon offsets. This diplomatic breakthrough may build the confidence needed for billions of investment dollars to flow to recovery and conservation work, particularly in developing nations. But where should the money go? Demand is already high for projects that protect or restore land, generating offsets in the process. Credits that represent actual reductions in atmospheric CO₂ can’t come online fast enough — at least according to countries and companies hoping to buy their way, even partly, out of carbon debt. Use of offsets is […]