About This Article
Welcome to our monthly update on the voluntary carbon market. This month, we analyze the carbon credit retirements for December 2025. As the year draws to a close, we typically see a rush of activity as corporates settle their accounts for the calendar year. This December was no exception, characterized by massive volumes from the energy sector and a significant market correction event by a major standard body.
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Retirement Records For This Month
Let’s dive into records for this month!
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Please note that:
The dataset only includes records from the following voluntary carbon credit registries, which are publicly available on their website: American Carbon Registry (ACR), ART TREES (ART), Climate Action Reserve (CAR), Gold Standard (GLD), and Verra (VCS).
We have only included records where the retirement quantity is equal to or greater than 1,000 tonnes of CO2e.
The company assigned to each retirement record was determined based on the information present in each individual note.
Sector information is categorized in reference to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) to align each entry with the most likely respective industry.
Key Takeaways
December 2025 closed with extraordinary volumes. The headline story is dominated by two distinct narratives: the sheer scale of retirements by energy giant Shell, and a significant administrative action by Gold Standard regarding Safe Water Supply projects. Beyond these, we saw consistent, high-volume offsetting from the Tech and Pharmaceutical sectors.
Here are the most significant activities observed in the data:
1. Market Correction: Gold Standard’s Remedial Action
A unique feature of this month’s data is a large number of retirements made by Gold Standard itself. You will notice numerous entries with the note: "Retired by Gold Standard to compensate for potential over-issuance from Safe Water Supply projects identified by 2020-initiated grievance investigation."
This action follows the conclusion of a grievance investigation regarding the potential over-issuance of credits from certain Safe Water Supply projects. To ensure environmental integrity, Gold Standard has taken the step of retiring credits from other projects (such as cookstoves in China, Uganda, and Madagascar, or wind power in Turkey) to compensate for the discrepancies. This demonstrates a standard body taking active responsibility for market integrity.
2. Energy Sector: Shell’s Massive End-of-Year Push
Shell was arguably the largest active entity in the market this month, retiring well over 1.8 million tonnes of CO2e across dozens of transactions. Their portfolio approach is vast and varied:
Mega-Retirements: Several single transactions exceeded 100,000 tonnes, including a 325,000-tonne retirement from the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project (DR Congo) and a 192,000-tonne retirement from the Corazón Verde del Chaco project (Paraguay).
Cookstoves: Shell continues to be a major supporter of energy efficiency, retiring hundreds of thousands of credits from cookstove projects in Malawi, Kenya, and Uganda.
Trading Arm: "Shell Trading International Limited" also executed a distinct block retirement of nearly 96,000 tonnes from a US-based N2O abatement project.
3. Pharma & Consumer Goods: Strategic Offsetting
Bayer AG: The German life sciences giant executed significant retirements, including transactions of 50,000 and 80,000 tonnes. They relied heavily on forest conservation (REDD+) projects in Cambodia (Keo Seima) and Brazil (Agrocortex) to cover their 2025 business travel and operational emissions.
Beiersdorf AG: The parent company of NIVEA continues its product-level offsetting strategy. We observed numerous specific retirements labeled for product lines such as "NIVEA Deo Sticks," "Shower Products," and "Lip Care," primarily utilizing soil carbon and agriculture projects in Kenya.
4. Tech & Finance: Continued Consistency
Lenovo: Following a strong November, Lenovo continued its "Program Managed by Lenovo" for clients. This included a massive single retirement of over 103,000 tonnes via the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), sourced from the Phlogiston Phase I project (N2O abatement) in the US.
Salesforce: The cloud giant remains a consistent buyer, retiring large blocks (e.g., 50,000 tonnes and 87,000 tonnes) largely focused on forestry projects in Mexico (Laguna Om) and Malaysia.
PwC: Multiple entities within the PwC network (International, US, UK) were active, retiring credits for FY26 emissions. Their portfolio is diverse, ranging from Mexican forestry to Chinese fuel switching.
5. Other Notables
GASAG AG: The Berlin-based utility provider was a major volume contributor this month. They executed dozens of retirements, totaling a substantial amount of credits primarily from renewable energy projects (hydro, solar, wind) in Indonesia and India. These retirements are linked to their "ÖkoPLUS" tariffs, compensating for emissions associated with natural gas consumption for their household and industrial customers.
Air Canada: Significant activity in the aviation sector, retiring credits from forestry projects in Peru (Tambopata) and Canada to meet voluntary emission contribution programs.
A.P. Moller Capital: Continued their pattern of retiring credits from afforestation projects in Laos.
Summary charts on amounts retired sorted by sector, country, and company are below:
Amount retired in Dec. 2025 by sector and country
Amount retired in Dec. 2025 by company
If you are a subscriber, you can find a complete list of retirement records with the project information for this month, as well as a chart of the top companies that retired the most credits, in the Google Spreadsheet at the bottom of this article.
Downloading and copy-pasting are disabled even for subscribers. If you want to download the file, please contact us ([email protected]):
The dataset includes:
General company information
Company Name (who most likely retired the credit based on the retirement note)
Country of the company
URL
Sector (GICS Code base)
Industry Group (GICS Code base)
Company Description
Retirement record
Project ID
Quantity
Retirement Account (CAR, ACR, ART) / Retirement Beneficiary (VCS, GLD)
Retirement Note
Retirement Reason
Transaction Date
Transaction Type
Vintage
Project information about the retired credit
Project Category
Project Country
Project's First Issuance
Project's First Retirement
Total Amount Issued
Project Name
Project URL
Project Proponent
Project protocol
Total Amount Retired
Status
Below is a link to the dataset for subscribers and top companies that retired credits.
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Disclaimer
The information provided in this carbon credit retirement database is intended for informational purposes only. While we strive to ensure the accuracy of the data, we cannot guarantee its completeness or correctness. The data is compiled from publicly available sources and may be subject to errors, omissions, or updates not yet reflected in our records.
No Warranty: The information provided is "as is" without any warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
Reliance: Any reliance you place on the information provided is strictly at your own risk. We recommend that you verify the data from other reliable sources before making any decisions based on the content of this database.
Independent Judgment: Users should exercise their own independent judgment when interpreting and using the information in this database. We are not responsible for any actions, consequences, or losses that may result from your use of this data.
Interpretation of Data: The analysis presented in the newsletter is based on our independent assessment of available information, and may not align with the viewpoints of other parties.
Registry Scope: Note that the dataset is limited to the following voluntary carbon credit registries: American Carbon Registry (ACR), ART TREES (ART), Climate Action Reserve (CAR), Gold Standard (GLD), and Verra (VCS). Retirements from other registries are not included in this analysis.
Data Aggregation: The aggregation of data, including identification of retiring companies and classification of sector information, is based on our interpretation of available notes and alignment with GICS codes. These interpretations are based on our own discretion and may be subject to varying perspectives.
Limitation of Liability: In no event will we, our employees, or partners be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from your use or inability to use the data, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Changes: The database and newsletter may be subject to updates, modifications, or removal at any time without prior notice. We will do our best to ensure accurate representation of current retirement data, but assume no obligation to update data after each publication.
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