Carbon Credit Prices: What They Cost and Why
Live price ranges from every project listed on Carbon Compared, plus a plain explanation of what moves the price of a tonne.
Price is usually the first question buyers ask, and the hardest one to get a straight answer to. A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, written as tCO₂e, but the work behind that tonne can be anything from protecting a standing forest to running an industrial plant that pulls CO₂ out of the air. Those are very different activities with very different costs, so a single headline price would be misleading.
This page shows aggregate price ranges for the projects listed on Carbon Compared right now: the lowest, the highest, and the median listed price for each project type. The figures update as listings change. They describe our own listings rather than the whole voluntary carbon market, so treat them as a realistic starting point for budgeting rather than an index or a market benchmark.
Prices for individual projects sit behind a free account, because project developers share commercial terms with us on that basis. Carbon Compared is free to use, independent, and does not sell credits, so we have no reason to talk a price up or down. When you need a real number for a real volume, request a quote and we will connect you with the supplier.
Listed price ranges by project type
Across all 39 projects with a listed price, credits currently range from $5 to $700 per tonne CO₂e, with a median of $50.
| Project type | Lowest | Median | Highest | Projects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Rock Weathering | $250 | $310 | $360 | 4 |
| Direct Air Capture with Carbon Storage | $250 | $290 | $700 | 4 |
| Other Biomass-based Carbon Removal | $175 | $190 | $600 | 3 |
| Biochar | $100 | $165 | $330 | 7 |
| Afforestation, Reforestation & Restoration | $15 | $29 | $250 | 8 |
| Industrial Methane Emissions | $5 | $26 | $50 | 4 |
| Improved Forest Management | $15 | $16 | $65 | 4 |
| Cookstoves | $10 | $10 | $16 | 4 |
Prices are per tonne of CO₂e, taken from projects currently listed on Carbon Compared. Project types with fewer than 3 listed prices are omitted, and projects priced on application are excluded. These are our listings rather than a market index.
What drives the price of a carbon credit
Two credits can each represent one tonne of CO₂e and still be priced an order of magnitude apart. Six factors explain most of that gap, and they stack on top of each other.
Permanence and durability
Permanence is how long the carbon stays out of the atmosphere. Storage in rock or deep geology is measured in thousands of years, while carbon held in trees and soils can be released again by fire, disease, or a change in land use. Buyers pay a premium for durability, and it is usually one of the largest influences on price.
Project type and maturity
Established approaches such as forestry and clean cooking benefit from decades of delivery experience and low cost inputs. Engineered carbon removal is earlier in its cost curve, with energy, equipment, and specialist labour to pay for on every tonne. Costs for newer technologies are expected to fall as capacity grows, though the pace of that is uncertain.
Credit vintage
Vintage is the year in which the reduction or removal actually happened. Buyers often prefer recent vintages because they line up with the reporting year they are covering and reflect the most current version of a methodology. Older stock frequently trades at a discount, and some reporting frameworks set a limit on how old a credit can be.
Project stage
Credits that already exist and sit in a registry account can be delivered immediately, which is what most buyers mean by spot supply. Credits sold before issuance, sometimes years ahead, often carry a lower headline price because the buyer is funding the project up front and carrying delivery risk. Scarce, highly durable supply can be the exception, with forward agreements priced at or above spot.
Standards and independent ratings
A verification standard sets the methodology a project must follow and the evidence it must produce, while a registry issues and tracks the resulting credits. Separately, independent agencies such as BeZero Carbon and Calyx Global publish their own view of how likely a credit is to deliver what it claims. Credits backed by a well regarded standard and a strong independent rating typically command higher prices.
Volume and co-benefits
Larger orders usually earn better unit pricing, because the fixed transaction costs carried by the project developer are spread across more tonnes. Co-benefits push in the other direction: projects that also deliver verified social, health, or biodiversity outcomes tend to be priced higher because buyers value the wider impact.
Why price alone is a poor quality signal
A low price is not automatically a bad deal. Some genuinely effective activities are simply inexpensive to run: a project in a region with low input costs, or one built on residues that would otherwise be discarded, can produce credible tonnes cheaply. Screening on price alone would rule out a lot of solid, well verified supply.
A high price is not automatically proof of integrity either. It can reflect a durable, tightly measured tonne, or it can reflect an expensive process, a small production run, or a strong brand. Cost tells you that a tonne was expensive to produce. It does not tell you how confident you can be that it was delivered.
The more useful question is what you get for the money. Look at permanence, the verification standard and methodology behind the credit, whether independent raters have assessed it and what they concluded, and how much of the claim rests on estimates rather than direct measurement. Price then becomes one column in the comparison instead of the whole decision. Whatever you buy, credits sit alongside cutting your own emissions rather than replacing that work.
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Each credit = 1 tCO₂e