“I often look to the stock market in the 1950s as an analogy for the Voluntary Carbon Market today. We didn’t know at the time who was going to be a blue chip company. We had to do the research, just like Cool Effect does today,” says Richard Lawrence. “Cool Effect is working to identify who is a blue chip and who is not. There’s both a research component to the quality of the credit and transparency in the business practices. I recommend that every buyer ask for legal transparency from the broker on the pricing of each credit they purchase. Ask to disclose the price being paid to the project. Look to eliminate hidden markups and proprietary trading. The voluntary carbon market alone won’t tell you how legitimate a project is — but with increased transparency, like you can see with The Seller’s Pledge, comes increased trust from purchasers.”
