When did the voluntary carbon market start?

The Voluntary Carbon Market was established in 1992 after the Kyoto Protocol. The objective was to fund Clean Development Mechanism projects in countries that were signatories to the Kyoto Protocol Annex B, through the voluntary participation of countries and companies from Annex A. The Clean Development Mechanism was defined by a specific United Nations office.

Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, most continents, countries, and subsequently, companies, have committed to achieving Net Zero emissions in order to accelerate our transition towards a sustainable, Net Zero society. Since then, the role of the Voluntary Carbon Market has undergone a complete transformation, as it is now intended to be the means of financing low-carbon projects based on the residual hard-to-abate emissions of companies.