Development of the concept of carbon units as a credit analysis category

The relevance of the article is determined by the transition of carbon units from being an environmental outcome and a carbon market instrument to becoming an object of financial, legal, accounting, and banking analysis. The study aims to systematize Russian academic approaches and develop a comprehensive interpretation of the carbon unit as a credit-analytical category. The methodology is based on thematic systematization and comparative analysis of scholarly positions concerning the economic nature, market circulation, accounting recognition, and legal status of carbon units. The financial-market, infrastructural, accounting-analytical, and legal strands of the academic discussion are examined. The identified research gap lies in the insufficient integration of the environmental, market, accounting, technological, and legal characteristics of carbon units into credit analysis tools and banks’ credit policies. The scientific novelty consists in substantiating a comprehensive approach to assessing carbon units in terms of their impact on borrowers’ creditworthiness, collateral value, and banking risk. Key barriers to their use by credit institutions are identified, and a phased model for overcoming them is proposed through legal and accounting certainty, market infrastructure development, valuation standardization, and the banking-sector piloting of relevant transactions.