Carbon credits feature high on the agenda at the recent COP 27 in Egypt. Once presented as a panacea for corporations struggling to keep apace with net zero targets, awareness is growing on the extent to which fraudsters are able to abuse carbon credit markets, and the need for tougher regulation.

In this article for European Business Review, Maria Cronin, Craig Hogg, and Kirsten Stewart discuss what carbon credits are, the two primary types of carbon markets and why they are open to abuse, including VAT fraud and boiler room schemes.

The piece also delves regulatory shortcomings and asks whether tougher regulation is inevitable.