Rossiyskaya Gazeta reviewed the findings of a study conducted by the Gaidar Institute’s International Best Practices Analysis Department on the state of the carbon credit market in Russia. The article has been submitted for peer review to an academic journal.
Experts concluded that the Russian carbon credit market, which has been growing rapidly since 2022, currently holds no interest for businesses. According to the data, the market is currently oversaturated: 36.5 million units are already in circulation, and another 101 million are being prepared for issuance. Existing demand is unable to absorb such volumes.
"Economic activity also remains low—the total value of transactions from 2022 through July 2025 amounted to approximately Rb2.5 mn. At the same time, the average market price of a carbon unit is approximately Rb800, which, according to companies’ estimates, often does not cover the actual costs of implementing climate projects,” the publication quotes from the study.
The article also notes that experts attribute the current situation to the voluntary nature of the market. Currently, companies purchase credits primarily to maintain their reputation or as part of the Sakhalin emissions trading pilot program. The absence of mandatory requirements renders the instrument ineffective: of the tens of millions of credits issued, only about 165,000 have actually been used.