Core Carbon Principles assessments and Working Groups now underway

London, 1 November 2023 – The Integrity Council has now started assessments of Carbon-Crediting Programs and Credit Categories against the Core Carbon Principles Assessment Framework.

Once assessments are complete, programs deemed to be CCP Eligible will be able to issue CCP-labelled credits from CCP Approved categories of credits.

The CCP label is designed to unlock much-needed private sector investment in climate solutions which would otherwise not be viable, and accelerate flows of finance to countries in the Global South to support the growth of vibrant green economies.

Assessing Carbon Credit Categories

As part of the process to assess Categories of Carbon Credits, the Integrity Council has established a Categories Working Group, made up of internal and external experts (view members). This group is responsible for conducting an initial assessment of carbon credits produced by different Categories, and is triaging Categories of Carbon Credits by the required action:

1. Category goes through an internal assessment process
2. Category is referred to a Multi-Stakeholder Working Group for deeper assessment
3. Category is unlikely to meet requirements (and assessment of this category is deprioritised)

Simultaneously, Multi-Stakeholder Working Groups (MSWG) are also now being established to conduct a multi-stakeholder assessment process of categories that have not gone through the internal assessment process. The MSWGs consist of experts with specialized knowledge to assess categories that raise more complex issues.

The outcome of the MSWGs’ work will define whether:

• Categories meet the criteria and requirements for CCP approval;
• Categories meet the criteria and requirements for CCP approval subject to remedial action to be undertaken by the relevant carbon-crediting program(s);
• Categories does not/do not meet the criteria and requirements for CCP approval.

All final decisions on Categories of credits will be made by the ICVCM governing board and will be made publicly available on the ICVCM website.

Assessing Carbon-Crediting Programs

After publishing the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) earlier this year, the Integrity Council invited carbon-crediting programs to apply for assessment against the criteria set out in the Assessment Framework.

We’re pleased to report that programs have now begun applying for assessment. Gold Standard was the first major program to announce its application, and others have now applied for assessment against the CCP framework. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis.

ICVCM Chair Annette Nazareth says: “We are delighted that Gold Standard has applied for assessment against our high-integrity Core Carbon Principles, and we look forward to considering their application. Programs which meet our rigorous requirements will be able to use the CCP label on credits from Categories that we have approved.

Read more about how programs can apply for assessment here.

Once a program has applied, the Integrity Council’s Policy and Implementation team will assess applications and present a set of recommendations to the Governing Board for review and a final decision.

There are three possible outcomes from the assessment process:

• the program is approved as CCP-Eligible.
• the program is approved with remedial actions to be completed within two months.
• the program is rejected (rationale will be shared with the program; who can reapply in six-months).

Program applications will be processed in the order they are received. You can keep a track of program applications here. Applications will be treated in the strictest confidence during the assessment. Programs will be asked to abide by standard ICVCM terms and conditions.