A Corporate Buyer's Guide to Purchasing Carbon Credits

Insights on how to maximize impact and budget from experts at Climate Impact Partners

As demand for high-quality carbon credits accelerates, corporate buyers are under pressure to act decisively and credibly. This guide outlines the strategies, purchase methods, and portfolio structures that enable our clients to deliver real impact through the voluntary carbon market.

Read on for practical guidance on sourcing carbon credits as part of a long-term climate strategy.

Define Your Climate Ambition and Role for Carbon Credits

Portfolio Strategy: Choose What’s Right for You 

Find out how Schroders leverages high-integrity carbon credits on their path to net zero.

We believe that, while reducing our operational emissions in absolute terms and transitioning to net zero, there is a role for purchasing high-integrity carbon credits. The voluntary carbon market directs finance to climate action projects, often providing additional benefits such as biodiversity protection, pollution prevention, public health improvements, and job creation.

Before buying, clarify how carbon credits fit into your broader net-zero or climate action roadmap.

​Once you’ve set reduction targets, carbon credits can be used to help address global emissions as you work toward meeting those goals.

Define Your Climate Ambition and Role for Carbon Credits

Portfolio Strategy: Choose What’s Right for You

Consider the 5 C’s of Carbon Credits: 

Not every carbon credit is the same, you should choose based on your climate strategy and business needs. That's why we developed the five Cs of carbon credits: claims, credibility, category, country and co-benefits.

Cost underpins every choice, because budgets, procurement requirements and risk tolerance shape what’s feasible – and prices vary by project type, geography, vintage and certification.

These five lenses help you make structured trade-offs as you build (and evolve) a portfolio – starting with the claims you need to make, then working through credibility and project mix. And throughout, cost remains constant: the right answer is the one that meets your objectives within your budget and risk parameters.

Watch the replay of our webinar on building a balanced carbon credit portfolio. Our experts explained how effective portfolios are shaped by your goals, stakeholder expectations, risk appetite and the claims you want to make.

Unpacking The Five C’s of Building A Balanced Carbon Credit Portfolio

Purchase Methods: 

Know Your Options

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Project Development

Fund an entirely new project

Strengthens buyer influence and ensures access

Protect Your Budget with a Multi-year Offtake Agreement

Forward Purchases

Commit now, pay in the future

Provides multi-year commitment to secure long-term partnership

Multi-year Offtake Agreements are a type of forward purchase in the form of a multi-year contracts to buy carbon credits from a specific project or portfolio over time. 

In 2024, there was a surge in long-term offtake agreements for nature-based removals, growing 380% over 2023. 

Multi-year carbon offtakes are ideal for buyers seeking impact, cost efficiency, and long-term planning consistency. 

This purchase method is increasingly favored by climate-leading companies due to its strategic benefits:

Corporates seek to secure supply today to meet their future demand for carbon credits.

At Freshfields we’d been offsetting on a pay-as-you-go basis for about 10 years. We’d experienced fluctuating prices, inconsistency in our portfolio, and an annual due diligence and contracting burden; all of these were contributing factors that drove us to make a long term commitment.

A 10 year commitment is quite significant. But actually a strong supporter of the program was our CFO, and there's lots of reasons why that is the case, but one of them was price certainty. We locked in a good value price because we were willing to make that long-term commitment over the following 10 years.

Jake Reynolds, Head of Client Sustainability and Environment at Freshfields, a global law firm, shared a firsthand account of developing a forward-looking carbon credit procurement strategy. 

Through the Reforestation in East Africa Program (REAP) Freshfields made a 10-year commitment that allowed them to impact over 180 communities, while also locking in high-quality carbon credits at a reliable price.

Find out more about Freshfields’s long-term strategy:

Mitigates supply and price volatility

Allows future budgeting

Ideal for alignment with long-term goals such as Net Zero and Science Based Targets that require multi-year strategic planning to execute

Selecting a 

Long-Term Partner

Ensure you have a trusted partner who can provide more than just quality carbon credits. The right long-term partner can provide support throughout your entire carbon credit journey, helping your company unlock greater value and impact, such as: 

 What to Ask When Choosing a Trusted Provider

When evaluating a provider, it’s important to ask the right questions to ensure credibility, transparency, and alignment with your sustainability goals. Here’s what you should ask:

Company and background and expertise:
    Provide details on your company history, experience and expertise, including  experience with clients our sector.
     Provide details of your capacity, experience and expertise related to carbon offset projects, including standards, project types, and mitigation types you can offer.

Role and process in carbon supply chain:
     What is your role in the carbon supply chain, and how does this help align with the buyer's needs?
     What is your process to ensure you provide those credits from the market that best meet the buyer's various preferences?

Risk management and capacity:
     What services do you provide to help address risks such as those associated with a delivery shortfall or failure from a project?
     Can you provide long-term capacity for multi-year agreements?

Transparency and reporting: 
     Can you share the typical fee breakdown between the credit service provider and the project supplier/developer for your projects?
     What project-level reporting do you provide in addition to the basic documentation required by the standards?

Client Support and alignment with strategy:
     What arrangements do you have in place to support clients in the event of negative media attention?
     Where applicable, do the offsetting projects align with the requirements of the business's Net Zero Strategy and targets? 

With more than 27 years’ experience, Climate Impact Partners is equipped with the resources and expertise to help our clients maximize their carbon programs.

We work with a global portfolio of 600+ high-quality carbon projects across 60+ countries – tailored to meet your climate and sustainability goals.

Verification, standards and integrity:
     What methodologies do you use to verify carbon savings and ensure project integrity? Please provide details.
     Please describe your due diligence and risk management structure and processes. What proportion of the projects you handle pass your integrity criteria?

We believe that, while reducing our operational emissions in absolute terms and transitioning to net zero, there is a role for purchasing high-integrity carbon credits. The voluntary carbon market directs finance to climate action projects, Often providing additional benefits such as biodiversity protection, pollution prevention, public health improvements, and job creation.

Portfolio management: build and maintain a diversified carbon credit portfolio

Molly Kampmann

WorldClimate Head of Partnerships

Deloitte

Global project sourcing: access high-integrity carbon credits from around the world 

Quality control: expert assessment of project quality, risk and impact

Climate claims: navigate credible climate claims with transparency and compliance

Communications: translate your climate action into clear, compelling stories to your relevant internal and external stakeholders

Project development: opportunity to fund a custom or early-stage carbon projects tailored to your goals

Making the Business Case Internally and to your CFO

Engage Finance Early

Connect to Stakeholder Value

The path to securing CFO buy-in starts with reframing climate action not as a cost, but as a long-term investment in resilience, reputation, and growth.

Link sustainability initiatives to brand, investor, and employee expectations

Carbon credits with co-benefits provide reputational and ESG returns

Retain employees and reduce turnover: 69% of the potential workforce say they are more likely to accept a job with an organization they consider to be environmentally sustainable (IBM research)

Use strategic investment language: "climate capital", "resilience investment"

Data and metrics matter so make them visible: Integrating sustainability into KPIs and decision-making frameworks helps make the business case

Highlight value protection, risk reduction, and cost of inaction

Speak With Us About Your Procurement Strategy 

The voluntary carbon market is evolving rapidly. Corporates that act now, invest strategically, and prioritize credibility will shape the future of high-impact climate action. With the right partners, purchase methods, and portfolio, carbon credits will continue to be a powerful tool for climate leadership. 

Whether you're just starting your journey or looking to strengthen your current approach, Climate Impact Partners
is your trusted partners, here to help. Our team brings deep expertise, trusted partnerships, and a commitment to climate integrity.