Many companies regard carbon offsetting projects as an important part of net-zero strategy. Does carbon offset delivers? A study, led by Dr. Trencher, finds that many offset projects are poor quality and fail to reduce emissions as claimed. By focusing on the twenty companies retiring the most offsets from the voluntary carbon market over 2020–2023 and evaluating the quality of projects based on the four dimensions, (1) use of offsets from low/high-risk project types; (2) age of projects and credits; (3) price of credits; and (4) country of implementation, the research team find that companies have predominantly sourced low-quality, cheap offsets: 87% carry a high risk of not providing real and additional emissions reductions, with most offsets originating from forest conservation and renewable energy projects. Most offsets do not meet industry standards regarding age and country of implementation. The study suggests that the voluntary carbon market is not supporting effective climate mitigation. To address the situation, the research also recommends two major points, one on improving regulatory framework to enhance the offset quality; the other on downplaying voluntary climate actions from compensation to contribution, which could generate more motives for companies to make real investments and change behaviours in reducing in-house carbon emissions directly.