FAQ

The honest questions, answered directly — not the soft ones.

Isn't carbon offsetting just greenwashing?

A lot of it has been. The 2023 Guardian/Die Zeit investigation found that the majority of Verra's top rainforest (REDD+) credits likely didn't represent real emissions reductions. That's exactly why we don't sell a credit just because a registry accepted it — we layer independent ratings (ICVCM Core Carbon Principles status, Sylvera, BeZero where available) and our own scoring on top, and we show you the score, not just a green checkmark. See how we score projects.

What happens if a project fails — a forest burns down, a machine breaks?

This is called reversal risk, and it's real for nature-based projects in particular. Reputable registries hold a percentage of credits back in a shared buffer pool specifically to cover this. We show each project's permanence risk as part of its score rather than pretending it's zero. [Once real projects are live, this section will link to the specific buffer pool mechanism each one uses.]

Why do prices vary so much between projects (€9 vs €140 a credit)?

Price roughly tracks how expensive the underlying removal or avoidance actually is, and how much co-benefit verification it carries. A cookstove project avoiding emissions in the field is cheap to run; a permanent, independently verified removal project costs far more to deliver and audit. Cheap isn't automatically bad and expensive isn't automatically good — check the score, not just the price.

What do I actually get when I buy a credit?

We retire the credit on your behalf in the project's official registry, permanently, under your name, so nobody else can claim it. You get a certificate with the registry reference so you can look it up independently — we'd rather you check us than trust us.

Is OpenCarbon regulated? Are you a financial advisor?

No. Voluntary carbon credits are not a regulated financial instrument in the EU today, though that is actively changing — the Dutch AFM has publicly supported bringing more oversight to this market. We are not a financial advisor and nothing on this site is financial advice. See understanding the risks.

Can I get a refund?

Yes, within a short window before your credit is actually retired — full details on our refund & withdrawal policy.

What do you do with my carbon footprint calculator answers?

Nothing is stored server-side today — the calculator runs entirely in your browser. See our privacy policy for what we do collect when you actually order.

This FAQ is a working draft alongside the rest of the store — flag anything that reads as evasive and we'll fix the underlying answer, not just the wording.