German authorities withdraw 2.1 million carbon credits, ExxonMobil spent US$4.9 million on fakes

German authorities have withdrawn carbon credits from 30 projects in China, totalling 2.1 million tonnes of CO2, after investigations found them to be 'suspicious', to have overstated reductions, or to be completely fake. ExxonMobil purchased 96,000 of these credits for approximately US$4.9 million through its Belgian subsidiary, according to a registration document seen by Bloomberg. The projects were part of a German government-backed 'upstream emission reduction' programme for oil companies, which launched in 2018. Companies that bought the withdrawn credits have been ordered to compensate for the shortfall, with 24 of the 30 projects still under ongoing investigation. This follows a 2024 exposé by German TV station ZDF and a May 2026 Bloomberg investigation into the projects.