The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market has launched 'Core Carbon Principles' and a programme-level assessment framework, outlining disclosures and sustainable development for high-integrity carbon credits. 

 

The new Core Carbon Principles, released on 30 March, have been developed with input from hundreds of organisations throughout the voluntary carbon market, the council said. 

 

The ICVCM has also published the first part of its assessment framework, which provides detailed criteria for assessing whether carbon-crediting programmes are CCP-Eligible. 

 

Carbon projects can receive credits – one per tonne of CO2 – that are then sold to companies or investors looking to offset emissions, with projects spanning tree planting, financing the avoidance of deforestation, and technological solutions like carbon capture and storage. The first UK pension funds have recently allocated to carbon credits. 

 

     

The voluntary carbon credits market is very young – estimated to be worth just $1bn to $2bn – and has struggled with reputational issues, made worse by a journalistic investigation that accused the main ratings agency, Verra, of grossly exaggerating the amount of carbon credits being generated by the projects it rates. 

 

The ICVCM has the aim to strengthen the market’s credibility. It said it has developed the new standards to provide a readily identifiable benchmark for high-integrity carbon credits. 

 

“The criteria published today take a significant step forward for consistent transparency by requiring programmes to publish comprehensive information in an accessible manner so all stakeholders can understand how projects issuing CCP-labelled carbon credits impact emissions, society and the environment,” the council said. 

 

The CCPs include requirements about transparency and sustainable development. They also state that to be considered high-integrity, carbon credits must fund emissions reductions and removals that are additional, permanent, measured robustly and conservatively and counted only once.  

 

Programmes that issue them must meet high standards of governance, use a registry to identify and track each credit from issuance to retirement or cancellation, and have emissions reductions and removals verified by independent third-party experts. 

 

Details on how a project claiming carbon credits impacts on Indigenous peoples and local communities, biodiversity, pollution, human rights, labour rights and gender equality “must be captured in validated design documents, which programmes will be required to publish along with associated monitoring reports provided by projects”, according to the council. 

 

“It’s clear we are not acting fast enough to address the climate crisis. We need every tool available working at full speed to secure a liveable future, and a high-integrity voluntary carbon market is one of those tools,” said ICVCM chair Annette Nazareth. 

 

ICVCM Board member Angela Churie Kallhauge, who is also the executive vice president for impact at US advocacy group the Environmental Defense Fund, said: “I applaud the ICVCM’s efforts to provide clarity around what a 'good' carbon credit looks like. The CCPs aim to help programmes strive for high integrity and give investors and the public confidence that high-integrity credits are making genuine climate impact.” 

 

The initial assessment phase for programmes will launch around mid-year 2023 following the publication of the ICVCM’s criteria for assessing different categories of carbon credits. Carbon-crediting programmes are expected to be able to label the first credits as CCP-approved later this year, the council said. 

 

ICVCM is planning a series of work programmes that will feed into the next version of the CCPs, due to be launched in 2025 and implemented in 2026. These will consider issues such as the implications of Corresponding Adjustments under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, whether all carbon credit projects should make a contribution towards the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund, and how to further strengthen the sustainable development requirements. 

 

If you have looked at carbon credits, is market integrity something that you are concerned about?