The rapidly growing $2bn carbon offsetting industry has faced extensive criticism in recent months, with analysis showing that more than 90% of offset credits by the biggest certifier are likely to be “phantom credits” and not represent genuine carbon reductions.
A number of international companies have used these credits to label their products and brands “carbon neutral” and pass these “carbon saving” benefits onto customers, but extensive investigation has called the quality of carbon offsetting schemes into question.
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM or Integrity Council) has now launched its Core Carbon Principles and Program-level Assessment Framework, with the aim of reassuring buyers about the quality of their carbon offsets, helping them avoid credits that do not mitigate climate change, and avoid programs that may be linked to human rights violations.
The principles and assessment framework is intended to set rigorous thresholds on disclosure and sustainable development for high-integrity carbon credits and establishing a pathway towards even higher ambition.
The Core Carbon Principles (CCPs), developed with input from hundreds of organizations throughout the voluntary carbon market, set out fundamental principles for high-quality credits that create real, verifiable climate impact, based on the latest science and best practice.
The ICVCM has also published the first part of its Assessment Framework, which provides detailed criteria for assessing whether carbon-crediting programs (programs) are CCP-Eligible.
The published criteria takes a significant step forward for consistent transparency by requiring programs 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 CCPs and Program-level Assessment Framework require comprehensive and accessible disclosure by programs on how each project calculates and quantifies its emissions impact, and how it assesses additionality and social and environmental impacts.
The criteria break new ground by requiring programs to ensure high-integrity credits come from projects with robust social and environmental safeguards that deliver positive sustainable development impacts.
CCP-Eligible programs must ensure project developers assess the risks of any negative environmental and social impacts, articulate measures to mitigate those impacts, and report on progress.
These include impacts on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs & LCs), biodiversity, pollution, human rights, labor rights, and gender equality.
Annette Nazareth, ICVCM Chair, said: “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 livable future and a high-integrity voluntary carbon market is one of those tools. Well-functioning markets and integrity are inextricably linked. Building a widely shared understanding of what high integrity means for carbon crediting programs and categories of carbon credits is a pre-condition for the development and growth of a viable and vibrant VCM. The CCPs and Program-level criteria we are issuing today are an important step towards a transparent, regulated-like market where buyers can easily identify and price carbon credits that meet consistently high-integrity standards that will also increase ambition over time.”
The Integrity Council plans to improve and strengthen the CCPs over time, updating them every two to three years, based on experience, the latest science and technology and new developments in the market.
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