On May 23, Zimbabwe’s government announced that it will begin regulating voluntary carbon offset trading. Zimbabwe is the 12th largest creator of carbon offsets in the global carbon offset market, an industry valued at around $2 billion. Under the new regulation, all carbon offset projects must register with and be approved by the state in the next two months. The government will then take half of the revenue from all carbon offset projects; of the remaining revenue, 20% will be earmarked for local communities, and foreign investors will be allowed a maximum of 30% (Bloomberg, Reuters). 

The new policy is intended to reduce greenwashing and benefit local communities. “We need to see the money going to the respective communities so they don't continue decimating forests if they understand that they will be deriving benefits from them," Mangaliso Ndlovu, Zimbabwe's environment and climate minister, commented (Reuters). The policy follows on the heels of the government’s declaration that all carbon credit agreements previously entered by international agencies with local authorities are now “null and void,” raising some concerns about the safety of investing in carbon offsets (Bloomberg).