Governments worldwide face mounting pressure to balance economic growth, climate ambitions, and fiscal stability. Carbon pricing has emerged as a critical policy tool to address this challenge.
Climate Focus is proud to have helped develop the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2025 report, just released by The World Bank. The report summarizes key carbon pricing and carbon markets trends observed in the past year.
Key takeaways from the report:
- Continued momentum of carbon pricing uptake, particularly among large middle-income economies, with around 28% of global emissions now covered by a direct carbon price.
- The average carbon price for implemented instruments has almost doubled in the past 10 years in real terms—from just above USD 10 per ton in 2015 to around USD 19 per ton in 2025.
- Carbon credit markets saw retirements increase, issuances stabilize, and average prices slightly decline. However, there has been increasing divergence in demand, supply, and prices across different types of credits.
- Retirements of nature-based carbon removal credits (within the forestry and land use category) issued by independent crediting mechanisms rose by nearly 25%, through a combination of increased supply and buyer interest in credits from carbon removal projects.
- OTC credit prices for some project types fell significantly, such as renewable energy credits, which were more than 30% lower than in 2023. At the same time, credits from household devices, energy efficiency, and fuel switching displayed notable increases.
Read the full report here.
