About This Article
Welcome to our monthly update on the voluntary carbon market. This month, we delve into the world of carbon credit retirements, highlighting significant activities and noteworthy trends we've observed in Sep 2025.
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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
September 2025 showcased robust activity in the voluntary carbon market, with the utilities and energy sectors leading a massive wave of retirements. Technology, financials, and manufacturing giants also made significant contributions, continuing to integrate carbon credits into their corporate climate strategies to address operational and client-related emissions.
Here are some of the most significant activities:
Just Energy's Massive Offsetting for Green Gas Customers: U.S. energy provider Just Energy executed one of the largest retirement campaigns of the month, retiring a total of 250,222 tonnes of CO2e. These credits, sourced from various GHG management and forestry projects in the United States, were retired on behalf of their retail gas customers who opted into green plans for 2024.
Manufacturing Giants Make Large-Scale Retirements: A series of substantial retirements totaling 94,642 tonnes of CO2e were made on behalf of "Manufacturing Clusters" associated with various Philip Morris entities. These credits were retired to offset outstanding emissions for the year 2024, utilizing forestry and energy efficiency projects in Brazil and Malawi.
PetroChina Continues LNG Offsetting: PetroChina International Company Limited remained a key player, retiring 134,531 tonnes of CO2e. The retirements from forestry projects in the DR Congo and Indonesia were to "Offset emissions related to the GIIGNL Framework Aligned GHG Offset LNG," demonstrating a continued strategy to offer carbon-neutral energy products.
Major Retirements from Global Brands:
Lenovo: The global technology firm retired 162,657 tonnes of CO2e, primarily from the Phlogiston Phase I project in the U.S. (CAR1480). These actions were taken "On behalf of Lenovo Clients" for the summer of 2025, as part of their managed carbon offset program.
GASAG AG: The German energy utility made a single, massive retirement of 96,000 tonnes of CO2e from an Indian solar project (GLD7726) for its "Ökogas Tarife 2025."
Salesforce, Inc.: The cloud computing giant retired 70,000 tonnes of CO2e from a GHG management project in the United States (ACR882), marking a significant contribution from the tech sector.
Air Canada: The Canadian airline demonstrated its commitment to offsetting by retiring 116,548 tonnes of CO2e from a diverse portfolio including forestry projects in Peru and Canada, and GHG management projects in Canada.
EY Global Services Limited: The professional services network retired 75,000 tonnes of CO2e from the Katingan Peatland Restoration and Conservation Project in Indonesia (VCS1477) to address emissions for its 2025 fiscal year.
Consistent Climate Action from Various Sectors:
U.S. Higher Education: American colleges were notably active this month. Dickinson College retired 25,000 tonnes, while Middlebury College retired a combined 29,172 tonnes to offset emissions for current and upcoming fiscal years.
Petro-Chemical and Energy: Refinería de Cartagena S.A. in Colombia retired a total of 33,377 tonnes for compliance purposes, and Altius Minerals Corporation retired 18,164 tonnes to offset its financed and Scope 3 emissions.
Financial Services: Neuberger Berman Group LLC retired over 50,000 tonnes to address its 2023-2024 consumption period, and UK-based Starling Bank made multiple retirements totaling 18,658 tonnes.
Summary charts on amounts retired sorted by sector, country, and company are below:
Amount retired in Sep. 2025 by sector and country
Amount retired in Sep. 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.
Stay Informed
The world of carbon credits is constantly evolving, so we'll continue to provide regular updates, insights and analysis as it happens.
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Email: [email protected]
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.
By accessing or using the provided database and information, you agree to the terms of this disclaimer.