MIT study finds buyer identity drives 62% of carbon credit price variation

A new study from MIT Sloan School of Management analysed over 7,200 voluntary carbon market transactions between 2018 and 2024, representing 11% of the global secondary market by value. The research found that buyer identity accounted for 62% of price variation, with prices for the same volume of reductions ranging from cents to over $100 per tonne. The 20 largest buyers paid 16% to 23% less than other market participants, and financial services and consumer goods companies paid 9% to 22% more than industrial manufacturers. The study also noted that projects with lower climate effectiveness, such as forest protection, sold at two to four times the price of more reliable technologies like waste management.