‘We don’t know where the money is going’: the ‘carbon cowboys’ making millions from credit schemes

Carbon schemes are touted as a way to transfer billions in climate finance to the developing world - but people at the Kariba project in Zimbabwe say most of the profits never arrive

In the districts surrounding Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, most people have little idea their villages were at the centre of a multimillion-dollar carbon boom. Punctuated by straw-thatched mud houses, the Miombo woodlands on the edge of the enormous artificial lake are mostly home to smallholder farmers. The gravel roads are full of potholes; cars are infrequent, as are medical facilities and internet connections. Data on the region is patchy, but Hurungwe district, that covers a number of the villages has an average poverty rate of 88%.

These communities fall within the vast, lucrative Kariba conservation project, encompassing an area almost the size of Puerto Rico. It is among the largest in a portfolio of forest offsetting schemes approved by Verra, the world's largest certifier. Since 2011, this project alone has generated revenue of more than 100m (85m) from selling carbon credits equivalent to Kenya's 2022 national emissions to western companies, according to now-deleted figures published by the project developer. Proponents say these schemes are a quick way of transferring billions of dollars of climate and biodiversity finance to the developing world through company net zero pledges.