Non-profit carbon markets organization Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) today announced the approval of the first-ever carbon credits to be labeled with the Core Carbon Principles, marking a milestone toward establishing a integrity standard for transparency and growth of voluntary carbon markets.
Demand for carbon offset projects and related credits is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, as companies increasingly launch net-zero ambitions and turn to offsets as a bridge to their own absolute emissions reduction efforts, or to strike a balance find that is difficult to avoid. emissions. However, the unregulated and fast-growing market faces a range of challenges, with market participants unable to distinguish between high and low quality projects with insufficient or inconsistent data to assess the projects’ effectiveness.
Launched in 2021 and supported by 250 organizations, the ICVCM aims to establish and maintain a global standard for high integrity in the voluntary carbon market, helping to mobilize financing for projects and programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere Reduce.
The ICVCM last year launched its Core Carbon Principles (CCP), aimed at establishing fundamental principles for high-quality carbon credits that create verifiable impact and are based on the latest science and best practices, to set a global benchmark for high integrity in the voluntary carbon market.
With the new announcement, the CCP label has been approved for seven carbon credit methods, and can be used for an estimated 27 million carbon credits, across project categories, including landfill methane capture and the destruction of ozone-depleting foam and refrigerant gases from discarded waste streams . equipment such as refrigerators and air conditioners.
Annette Nazareth, chair of the Integrity Council, said:
“The Core Carbon Principles set a high bar for integrity and the CCP label is designed to help buyers identify carbon credits that meet our strict standards. We are pleased that the first credits can now be CCP labeled – they are issued by projects that capture powerful greenhouse gases that are essential to provide a short-term “emergency brake” on warming. Governments are increasingly recognizing that a high-integrity VCM can play a key role in scaling up private sector financing for high-value projects to reduce emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere.”
In addition to the new approvals, the Council said a further 27 categories of carbon credits – representing more than 50% of the market – are being actively assessed, while other methodologies are still being assessed, including those covering landfill gas, which are estimated to cover 76 categories cover. million credits issued, and ozone depleting substances, covering an estimated 4 million credits. The ICVCM added that multi-stakeholder reviews of some of the most popular types of carbon credits, including REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), Jurisdictional REDD (JREDD and clean cooking stoves) will also be completed in the coming months.
Nazareth added:
“This is just the beginning. We will announce further categories eligible for CCP labels that meet our criteria, as we continue our careful and thorough review of submitted credit methodologies and carefully consider complex issues with our expert stakeholders .”
