The minute
- Avoidance credits are the cheapest tier: in Senken’s 2026 price data, Amazon REDD+ starts around EUR 12 per tonne
- Engineered removals sit at the other end: direct air capture can pass EUR 1,000 per tonne
- A typical corporate portfolio averages EUR 25 to EUR 80 per tonne, depending on how much durable removal it holds, according to the same analysis
Why it matters: there is no single carbon price. What a buyer pays depends on the project type, the rating and the vintage, and confusing those three is the fastest way to overpay or to buy a credit nobody respects.
Carbon credits guide
- Carbon credits explained: what they are and how they work (start here)
- Carbon offset vs carbon credit: the difference
- Additionality: the key quality test
- Carbon credit prices in 2026 (you are here)
- How to buy carbon credits: routes and checklist
- Due diligence before buying: registry, CCP label, red flags
- CCP labels: what they guarantee for buyers
The three questions that set the price
1. What does the credit do? Avoidance credits (a forest that is not cut, a landfill that captures methane) are cheaper because the carbon was never in the atmosphere. Removal credits (reforestation, biochar, direct air capture) physically take carbon out, cost more and are what most net zero frameworks now push for. Ecosystem Marketplace found that removal credits were on average 381% more expensive than reduction credits in 2024.
2. How good is the project? Independent ratings from agencies such as BeZero, Sylvera and Calyx Global have become the real currency of the market. Highly rated projects hold their price while legacy projects struggle to find any buyer at all.
3. When was the reduction made? That is the vintage. In Senken’s data, recent vintages (2023 and newer) command 20 to 40 percent more than 2018 to 2020 vintages of the same methodology, even though the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market does not treat vintage as a quality criterion. The market prices the perception, not the rule.
What that means in practice
A company offsetting 1,000 tonnes can pay anywhere from around EUR 12,000 to more than EUR 1 million for the same headline claim. The honest way to budget is to decide the portfolio mix first (how much avoidance, how much removal, which minimum rating) and only then ask for prices.
For Brazilian projects the equation is shifting: the regulated market created by Law 15,042/2024 will pull domestic demand into a supply that today is sold almost entirely abroad, and that tends to push prices up rather than down.
Sources: Senken, carbon credit prices in 2026; Ecosystem Marketplace, State of the Voluntary Carbon Market 2025; ICVCM Core Carbon Principles.
For the latest market data, see our report carbon credit prices climb as buyers shift from volume to quality (Q3 2026).
Frequently asked questions
Why do carbon credit prices vary so much?
Because project type, vintage and quality differ widely, from around EUR 12 for avoidance credits such as REDD+ to over a thousand euros for engineered removal.
Are compliance market prices different from voluntary market prices?
Yes, compliance markets like the EU ETS tend to have more predictable, standardized pricing set by allowance supply and demand under a regulatory cap.
Is the cheapest credit the best deal?
Not necessarily; a very low price is often a signal to check the registry, vintage and additionality before buying.
Primary sources: State of the Voluntary Carbon Market 2025 (Ecosystem Marketplace, 2025); State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2026 (World Bank, 2026); The Core Carbon Principles (ICVCM, 2023); Law 15,042/2024 creating the SBCE, official text (Presidency of Brazil, 2024).
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