Why carbon credit sales take so long: relationships, buyer education, and due diligence drag

A new survey from Ecosystem Marketplace and Carbon Capital Lab reveals why selling carbon credits is often a slow, expensive process. Based on responses from 48 project developers and intermediaries, the report finds that most sales conversations die early because buyers lack market knowledge or are just window shopping. Sellers end up doing a lot of unpaid education just to get buyers up to speed. Deals that do close take an average of five months for spot credits and 15 months for offtake agreements. Due diligence is the biggest bottleneck, especially for offtakes, where bespoke data requests can become too costly for sellers to fulfill. The market still relies heavily on personal relationships rather than standardized procurement channels, which makes it harder for smaller developers to break in. The article suggests that standardizing due diligence and streamlining data collection could shorten timelines and reduce the financial burden on sellers. Until that happens, the market will struggle to scale efficiently even if credit quality improves.