This month, we take a closer look at Etsy and Jacobs, two corporate buyers with confident and well-established approaches to the voluntary carbon market. Drawing on AlliedOffsets data, we explore how their activity, credit preferences, and engagement have evolved over time.
Buyer Spotlight
American e-commerce brand Etsy (US29786A1060) is a stalwart of the VCM, having been publicly active since at least 2017. The estimated value of its contributions to the market in this time are nearly $15 million. December saw it retire 164,000 credits from a combination of different project types and countries; the majority came from Chemical Processes/Industrial Manufacturing followed by Waste Disposal and Forestry and Land Use, but technical removals in the form of CO2 Utilization in Concrete also featured. While Renewable Energy has historically comprised just under half of Etsy’s retirements, like other major buyers in the Technology and Telecommunications sector, it has moved away from such projects in 2025. For more information, take a look at the Corporate Activity section of our Voluntary Carbon Market 2025 Review.
Since 2019, Etsy has been the first major online shopping platform to offset 100% of carbon emissions generated by shipping. While recent years have seen more retailers, transportation and logistics companies offer this service for consumers, Etsy stands out for undertaking this as standard. More broadly, the company is working towards a 50% reduction in Absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions from a 2020 base year, and a 52% reduction in Scope 3 emissions per million dollars of gross profit, by 2030. Last year, Etsy began using an internal carbon fee to fund both purchases from carbon crediting projects and to inset emissions, such as electrifying road transportation.
The use of an internal carbon fee to influence in-house decision making and fund carbon offsets also features in the decarbonisation strategy of this month’s other corporate buyer, Jacobs (US46982L1089). The American Professional Services Firm has had a fee set at $50/ ton for non-billable business travel since 2022, making it another relatively early mover. Jacobs’ carbon offsets were purchased to cover emissions remaining after reductions from scope 1, scope 2 heating and scope 3 business travel carbon emissions in 2020 and 2021. Its carbon neutrality status is in line with BSI PAS 2060. Despite the company’s operations over 40 countries and extensive Scope 3 spread, it is a leading company on CDP’s 2021 Supplier Engagement Leaderboard, for taking action to measure and reduce climate risk within its supply chain.
Its retirements in December were split equally across Household Devices and Improved Forest Management, although earlier in the year its portfolio showed a wide spread across from Energy Efficiency/Fuel Switching, Forestry and Land Use, CO2 Utilization in Concrete, and Cookstoves, from six different countries. Its favored broker for many of these transactions is Schneider Electric, a major buyer in its own right.
Read our Voluntary Carbon Market 2025 Review for a data-driven view of buyer trends in 2025 here