The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) is an initiative that aims to promote the integrity and credibility of voluntary carbon market (VCM) by developing and maintaining a standard for carbon offset projects.
The ICVCM was launched in June 2021 and is supported by a range of organisations, including companies involved in the voluntary carbon market, NGOs, and academic institutions. The council aims to build trust and transparency in the VCM by setting rigorous standards for carbon offset projects and providing independent verification of these projects.
The ICVCM’s first goal is to establish a set of core carbon principles, which set the threshold for high-quality carbon credits and define which carbon crediting programmes and methodologies are CCP eligible. Offsets which meet its standards will be marked with a ‘CCP’ label at registries and on exchanges.
The purpose of the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and Assessment Framework is to provide a credible, rigorous, and readily accessible means of identifying high-quality carbon credits that create real, additional and verifiable climate impact with high environmental and social integrity. It plans to do this by establishing a definitive and consistent benchmark for high-integrity carbon credits, based on solid science and best practice; assessing crediting programs and credit types against that benchmark; and clearly identifying those that meet it.
By establishing a globally-recognised benchmark for high-integrity credits, the CCPs will build trust, unlock additional investment and help deliver real climate impact at the speed and scale needed to keep 1.5°C alive.