Following the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) launch in March 2023, the Integrity Council of the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) released a second update on 27 July. This update outlined and provided information on the assessment procedure, marking the start of the assessment process for programs. The category-level assessment framework laid out criteria for carbon credit categories to be CCP-approved, providing long-awaited clarity, especially for project developers in restoring public trust in the market and for corporate buyers to avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing. Programs such as Gold Standard and Verra can start applying for assessment through the ICVCM’s application portal, allowing programs to use the CCP label once the category-level assessment is completed. Although it is still unclear how many projects will fall short of the requirements, we expect to see a bifurcation of the oversupply credits into CCP-approved or non-CCP-approved. Meanwhile, the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects are currently left hanging as the Integrity Council will only assess the REDD category at the beginning of next year.
Read our previous analysis introducing the work of ICVCM here and our deep dive on the first release here.
What do we know so far? The category-level assessment framework sets out six criteria: additionality, permanence, robust quantification, no double-counting, sustainable development benefits and safeguards, and transition to net zero (see Textbox I). It is…
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