Global Environ. Polit. 19, 99–122 (2019).

The Paris Agreement has amplified the significance of private, voluntary, market-based initiatives in achieving global climate change commitments. However, these programs are less prevalent in the Global South, where incentives and capacity are weaker than industrialized countries. Understanding the limited uptake of private initiatives in developing countries has implications for the success and legitimacy of transnational governance approaches to global challenges.

Liliana Andonova, from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and Yixian Sun, from Yale University, analyse project-level data from voluntary carbon offset programs (VCO) registered in developing countries as of 2016. They find that countries with more projects registered through the international Clean Development Mechanism and that receive more climate-directed foreign aid, are more likely to participate in VCO. In addition, domestic factors such as vulnerability (particularly in countries without the market power of emerging economies) and public policy supporting renewable technology, also determine VCO participation. The authors conclude that VCO participation in developing countries is driven by local concerns and priorities, but support from formal international institutions is needed to increase interest and build capacity.