Our specialist expertise
Building on our environmental products expertise and market-leading commodities and capital markets platform, we offer a variety of carbon offsetting solutions: from investing in offset generating projects to sourcing and retiring offsets for clients.
The team brings together industry-leading professionals who are helping to shape the global voluntary carbon markets. These markets play an important role in global decarbonisation, and whilst they are still developing, we aim to deploy our rigour and accountability to help drive their increased robustness and responsible growth.
Coverage of the compliance and voluntary carbon markets since 2006
Member of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), IHS Markit Global Carbon Index and Meta Registry Advisory Boards
Consulted on the design and launch of CBL’s spot Global Emissions Offset (GEO) and Nature-Based Global Emissions Offset (N-GEO), and the CME Group Futures contracts
We source and trade voluntary carbon offsets over-the-counter, through exchanges and through non-standardised products where we have direct involvement in the underlying project.
We assess the voluntary carbon offset trading schemes’ suitability against our own risk assessment framework, in addition to the project specific analysis undertaken by a scheme’s own methodology. This framework is founded on the principles set by leading international standards.
Where we are directly involved in an offset generating project, we are rigorous in our approach to ensure high environmental and social integrity. For example, together with C-Quest Capital LLC (CQC) and partners, we have invested in a program to deploy cookstoves to rural communities across Sub-Saharan Africa that cook on traditional open fires. This program delivers verified emissions reductions as well as meaningful social and health improvements – both directly and in the long term – through local employment opportunities, crop propagation schemes, and ongoing community support. This is supplemented by a component of the proceeds from the sale of the carbon units going to an independent Foundation, established to further the positive community impact.
Building on this successful investment, we are actively looking to bring further capital and expertise to other carbon offset generating projects as well as wider decarbonisation initiatives including nature-based solutions, carbon capture utilisation and sequestration (CCUS), and other forms of innovative environmental and low-carbon technology.
We deploy tailored trading, hedging and warehousing strategies to support our clients’ long-term carbon requirements.
The combination of our market-leading commodities platform, long-standing compliance carbon market expertise, and being at the cutting edge of the voluntary carbon market, enables us to unlock unique trading opportunities and provide a range of structures for the diverse needs of our clients.
We distribute offsets to a range of commodities, infrastructure and institutional clients to assist them in meeting their carbon offset requirements, drawing on our existing inventory position, investment in offset projects and access to carbon markets.
We have a strong track record in structuring industry-first transactions, offsetting commodities, assets and financial products. We are involved in arranging the initial greenhouse gas footprint calculation and verification, through to the associated carbon credit identification, sourcing and retirement.
We are a global team headquartered in London and operating out of all major hubs.
Read our perspective on the role of voluntary carbon markets in accelerating corporate climate action, and how market participants can deliver the improvements needed for voluntary offsets to scale.
Macquarie has invested in CQC’s Sub-Saharan Africa program, which has been developed to deploy clean, efficient cookstoves to approximately 3.7 million rural households. Alongside delivering a positive community impact and contributing to several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the program generates high-quality carbon offsets that can be used to support corporations' decarbonisation strategies.
