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Steve Zwick’s career has traced the intersection of climate, finance, and media, from Chicago trading pits to international business reporting, Deutsche Welle, Ecosystem Marketplace, and now his Bionic Planet podcast and Carbon Paradox, where he focuses on clarifying the complexities of carbon markets and REDD+.He emphasizes that carbon markets are built on probabilities, not certainties, and criticizes both media and advocacy for flattening nuance into oversimplified verdicts. For him, methods evolve through revision, guardrails, and conservative accounting, with avoidance of deforestation often delivering the greatest climate impact.Zwick frames forest carbon as payment for services protecting a global commons, not charity,…

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This ETF screener is based on tracking errors and differences (ETF return minus index return). It will help users evaluate how efficiently an ETF has tracked its underlying benchmark.The tracking error is the ETF’s standard deviation minus the index’s monthly return differences. The lower the tracking error, the more efficient the ETF is in following the index. Unlike returns, tracking error data over multiple durations is hard to find.  Also, many investors do not seem to appreciate that the tracking error depends on the duration. This screener hopes to change that.In an index fund, there is only the NAV. In…

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In the context of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects, it means that if it were not for the project the forests would have been cleared.   | Photo Credit: Getty Images The carbon credit system allows companies to finance their ambitions to reduce or remove their greenhouse gas emissions. The integrity of these credits, especially in the voluntary carbon markets, has come under scrutiny over a key factor: additionality.  A project is ‘additional’ if it has helped in reducing green house gas (GHG) emissions. In the context of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects, it means that if it were…

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On September 10, 2025, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission withdrew guidance–promulgated by the Biden Administration in September 2024–concerning the market for voluntary carbon credits. Specifically, the CFTC stated that it was withdrawing the voluntary carbon credit guidance because it “provides limited value” and because it “placed a disproportionate focus on a particular class of derivative contracts”–i.e., contracts concerning carbon credits. Rather, the CFTC stated that a “uniform regulatory framework”–without guidance specifically concerning carbon credits–“best serves market transparency, expectations, fairness, and integrity.” This development is aligned with the broader de-regulatory impetus of the Trump Administration, and, in particular, its quest to…

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As carbon credits gain traction, efforts are underway to help small family forest landowners participate. MAINE, USA — Forest carbon credits are gaining traction in Maine. Yet as the voluntary carbon market picks up, some in the industry are worried about access for small family forest landowners with fewer resources than corporations who manage bigger plots of land.  In order to participate in the market where carbon credits are bought and sold, a forest landowner first needs to understand exactly how much carbon their trees are capable of storing. The science behind the forest carbon market is based on the fundamental…

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