I’ve heard the idea that carbon credits create a fairly unique scenario where both sides, the buyer and the seller of the credits, aren’t that strongly incentiv

I’ve heard the idea that carbon credits create a fairly unique scenario where both sides, the buyer and the seller of the credits, aren’t that strongly incentivized to call out fraud. In regular “marketplace” transactions, the buyer wants the genuine product and will be upset if they are defrauded. In a carbon credit market, the main thing the buyer cares about is the paper, not the thing that the paper is supposed to represent. Certainly, many buyers of carbon credits do care about it being legitimate. But it is more of an altruistic caring, compared to the strong feelings that come up when one gets ripped off. Because of this dynamic, everything else held equal, there is going to be more fraud.