The Ultimate Carbon Credits Related Claims Guide
Thousands were sold Carbon Credits as part of their SIPP investment portfolio, but many haven’t really benefited from the investment with many firms going to the wall after carbon credits fell in value to negligible figures.
This not only ruined a lot of people’s pensions – and therefore retirements – but it also uncovered the large-scale mis-selling of Carbon Credits investments, particularly through SIPP accounts.
Not regulated by the FCA, Carbon Credits are considered a high-risk investment. But despite this, they were sold by the truck-load to people with little investment experience, little wealth and with a slim capacity of loss, making them thoroughly unsuitable for such a complex and risky investment.
The good news?
Spencer Churchill Claims Advice have experience in fighting for compensation in such cases where the investor was negligently advised to place their money into a Carbon Credits scheme by a regulated financial adviser.
Get started nowCan you claim for Carbon Credits mis-selling compensation?
Several financial advisers and the FSCS have been paying out compensation for the mis-selling of Carbon Credits investments via SIPPs and SSASs for a few years, with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice often leading the claim on a No Win – No Fee* basis.
If you:
- Transferred your pension to a SIPP
- Invested in Carbon Credits or other high-risk investments
- Aren’t earning over £100k per year
- Aren’t a Sophisticated Investor
Then you may have been mis-sold, and you could be able to make a claim for negligent SIPP advice.
Receive a free call-back from a specialist to get started
What are carbon credits??
The vast majority of scientists agree: the world’s climate is changing, and there’s a strong opinion that higher carbon emissions are largely to blame.
That’s where the Kyoto Agreement came in.
Many world leaders got together to discuss how best to deal with the carbon issue, and Carbon Credits was one of the solutions that came out of it.
Carbon Offset was a way for companies to pay the world back for the carbon they produce, by buying back carbon credits equal to the carbon they were producing, effectively making them carbon neutral.
Investors were offered a slice of the action too, allowing them to invest into the carbon credits market which was offering some huge potential returns.
Many people were advised to invest by transferring to a SIPP pension, despite the high-risk nature of carbon credits investments.
Sadly, for many investors, this risk became a reality when much of the market collapsed, and many carbon credits schemes were valued at £0 or £1.
Carbon Credits timeline of events
1990's - Global Warming Concerns
1997 - The Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol opened the door to the existence of Carbon Credits. Ratified by at least 55 states, it represented a near global promise to combat carbon build up.
2000's - The Carbon Market
Trading begins in earnest, as companies buy up carbon credits to offset their carbon production, hopefully neutralising the effect of carbon on the environment.
2010> - Collapse of Carbon Companies
Into the 2010’s, it was becoming obvious that some carbon credit schemes were outright scams, and faith in the market dipped. Some carbon credits schemes went under completely, and are now valued at zero.
2019 - Carbon Credits in 2019
Now in 2019, Carbon Credits are ancient history for many investors who have since fought and won claims for negligent financial advice to invest in these high-risk schemes.
If you invested in Carbon Credits via a SIPP pension, you may still be able to make a claim for any losses. Find out with a free initial assessment with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice.
Carbon Credits Investments and Negligent Advice
It’s not correct to say that all Carbon Credits investment schemes were ‘bad’, but they were high-risk because they were not regulated by the FCA – the UK’s financial services watchdog.
The FCA does, however, regulate financial advisers, who have a duty to perform due-diligence on investments before advising on them to their clients.
High-risk investments aren’t suitable for everyone, and should only be considered suitable for people who are earning enough and have the investment experience to manage the risk.
Financial advisers should have been checking that people were suitable for Carbon Credits investments via SIPPs, and advising against it on cases where the investments weren’t suitable.
Through negligence or greed, many advisers got it wrong, losing their clients tens of thousands.
If you’re one of them, you may be able to make a claim.
Get started nowCarbon Credits Related Claims
Carbon Credits Mis-selling Compensation FAQ's
Why did so many people invest in Carbon Credits?
From speaking to many Carbon Credits investors, there are 3 main reasons that so many people invested in Carbon Credits as part of SIPPs:
- High projected returns: While many regulated investments may be lucky to see 4% returns, some carbon Credits investments were offering 8% or more. Many people wanted more money in retirement, but many were unaware that these higher projected returns came with more risk.
- Save the world: Rightly so, many of us are becoming more and more concerned with the effects of global warming. Carbon Credits not only promised high returns but came with the feeling that the investor was doing something good – an attractive proposition to many.
- Bad financial advice: If the first two selling points weren’t enough to convince a potential investor, a regulated financial adviser, usually assisted by a marketing company telling the investor it was a good decision did the trick. Not everyone was suitable, and many advisers got it wrong.
What is the relationship between SIPPs and Carbon Credits?
SIPPs (Self-Invested Personal Pensions) offer pension savers a wider choice of investments than many other personal pensions. For a time, this included Carbon Credits despite their non-standard nature.
It wasn’t just Carbon Credits either. Many financial advisers mis-sold a huge variety of high-risk investments via SIPPs over the past 2 decades, leading to losses for investors stretching well into the millions of pounds.
Many investors fought back by making SIPP claims, but many are yet to do so.
How To Claim - Carbon Credits
Sadly, not everyone who lost money in Carbon Credits investments may be able to make a claim.
But if you took advice to invest from a regulated financial adviser and the advice given was unsuitable, then there could be a claim in it for you.
If you’re not sure, take a free chat with a case assessors from Spencer Churchill Claims Advice.
We’ve seen thousands of mis-sold pension and investment claims through to conclusion, winning back £Millions* on behalf of our clients.
Each claim started with a free initial assessment on the phone to test the claim’s eligibility, and proceeded on a No Win – No Fee* basis.