Continually improving the independent carbon markets together

By Amy Merrill , CEO, Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market.

As the Integrity Council continues to work with stakeholders in the carbon markets to bring integrity, consistency, interconnectedness to drive scale, in 2026 we will work in concert with the carbon community on how the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) Assessment Framework should evolve. This builds on what we have learned in our continuous improvement stakeholder work programs, experience gained through assessments and oversight, and from market and scientific developments.

Building on a global, collaborative foundation

Since 2022, the Integrity Council (ICVCM) has worked with thousands of stakeholders worldwide to increase integrity, comparability, and transparency in carbon markets. Stakeholders helped to refine and fine tune through the public consultation the draft rule base developed by our independent Expert Panel. That collective stakeholder effort culminated in the publication of the Core Carbon Principles and Assessment Framework in July 2023 and set the global threshold for high integrity in the independent carbon markets.

We have come a long way together since 2023.

Nine carbon crediting programs have become CCP-Eligible, and eight more are in the assessment pipeline, the vast majority of the independent carbon market by volume. We have assessed 59 methodologies with 38 approved, amounting to an estimated 108 million credits that can be CCP-labelled, of which 54 million are unretired (MSCI, March 2026). With 17 of the approved methodologies being new or new versions, the pipeline of CCP carbon credits will grow rapidly and become the bedrock of future market volume.

Market analysis shows rising buyer demand and clear price premiums for CCP-labelled credits, signalling confidence in the stability and consistency of the CCP threshold and resulting premiums.

The assessment process since 2023 has been a huge collective endeavour: over 100 external experts contributed over 11 thousand hours to our multi-stakeholder assessment groups. This demonstrates both the vision of the carbon community to work together to strengthen the market and our own commitment to truly broad and deep stakeholder inclusion and engagement and scientific basis of our work – something our Expert Panel members continue to underpin.

During the assessment process and continuous improvement work so far, we have learned so much: Areas where the market approach still needs to deepen and strengthen to be able to scale; Areas where best practice may be understood but rolling it out may need more support and focus; Areas where the science is moving very fast but deployment of technology or know-how constrains scale. Responsiveness to lessons learned, evolving science and acting on stakeholder input are key to how ICVCM sees the collective journey.

Our continuous work programs have focused on some of those crunchy issues. Over 200 stakeholders from over 140 organisations, over 200 hours of discussions and debate across over 70 meetings so far: with the findings set out in four reports published to date, containing a total of 82 recommendations. Our latest work program, which we are glad to be cofacilitating with the World Bank, is focusing on digital monitoring, reporting and verification has just started. To support any further thinking that our work programs find is needed, our Science and Research Network, where stakeholders can provide research findings, identifies topics (currently 43) where we need to collectively know more.

The self-led Indigenous Peoples and Local communities Engagement Forum has also shaped its own strategy through consultation with rights-holders and NGOs, reaching around 300 people through virtual and physical engagement.

2026 and our commitment to stakeholders

In 2026 we will once again look to stakeholders across the world to share their perspectives.

We will be working together with everyone, from project developers, communities and rights organisations, through academia and research, to practitioners – sellers, aggregators, traders, buyers and raters – to regulators and governments to start the process to systematically reflect on the things we have learned since the Assessment Framework was launched.

We will be counting on the support of the carbon market community, across its breadth and depth to help us all see where the collective “next step” is on the issues that we put to public consultation, and what the best approach for that next step would be.

We will make sure that:

• We give stakeholders good warning of upcoming consultations and good time to respond to ensure we are reaching all stakeholders and views with our consultations.
• We carefully consider the responses we get and how they may help us continue to collectively shape and strengthen the market.
• We listen carefully to the impacts that market actors expect or anticipate, whether positive or challenging, and set appropriate phase ins and grace periods, or choose to hold off on that issue.

A system for clarifying and interpreting the CCP Assessment Framework

In the first part of 2026 we will be developing instruments that will allow the ICVCM to interpret, clarify and subsequently evolve specific parts of the Assessment Framework.

We will be publishing a public consultation on “how” the Integrity Council will do that – a decision hierarchy system enabling us to be even more precise about what some provisions in the Assessment Framework mean, or on how they will be interpreted in the future. That public consultation will be process-oriented in its focus, and we will ask for input on whether the instruments and the hierarchy system can be expected to deliver what we hope.

Later in 2026 and beyond, we will start public consultations on the “what” – the specific proposed interpretations or evolutions of the Assessment Framework. These will draw on:

• experience from carbon crediting program and methodology assessment, including as as set out in our Governing Board Observations,
• our assurance and oversight processes
• the “signposts” in the Assessment Framework
• recommendations from the continuous improvement work programs
• the findings of the Science and Research Network work
• insights from the Indigenous Peoples and local communities Engagement Forum
• stakeholder input and market developments.

Our independent Expert Panel will have a leading role in shaping the proposals for consideration by our Governing Board.

Interconnected carbon markets

At the Integrity Council we care about high-integrity and we also care about building interconnected markets. In these challenging times, we remain committed to work to ensure a fair future for people and ecosystems, for energy security, food security and for sustainable development. We support as much carbon market comparability as possible because it can help build scaled finance flows.

For that reason, the Governing Board agreed, in December 2025, that carbon crediting programs operated by government entities or agencies can also apply for Integrity Council assessment against our high-integrity threshold. Such government programs sometimes operate under different institutional structures, and we may consult publicly on specific provisions as part of the work on interpreting the current Assessment Framework as we described above. Under the CCPs, both government-administered and independent carbon crediting programs will need to operate with a consistent level of high integrity. The UK Government-backed Woodland Carbon Code, has applied and is now under assessment with the Integrity Council, and like the carbon crediting programs that passed into assessment before them, we welcome that application.

With domestic carbon pricing systems being increasingly deployed around the world, and Article 6 agreements and transactions being rolled out, building interconnectedness needs to be something we are all thinking about to ensure we can collectively deliver functional, efficient climate finance flows and access the opportunities to reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions that are still waiting to be implemented.

As 2026 takes shape, at the Integrity Council we are looking forward to working with you, listening to you and delivering together on our vision of a high integrity, consistent, transparent carbon credit threshold built on collective wisdom and insight that unlocks much needed climate finance and climate action.