Thursday, 21 November 2024
Home Topics Business Carbon credit standards approval extended to 98% of market
BusinessClimateEmissions MarketsNewsVoluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs)

Carbon credit standards approval extended to 98% of market

68

By Virginia Furness

LONDON (Reuters) – Five of the world’s largest carbon credit programmes have now been given initial approval by a body tasked with raising standards in the market for carbon offsets, where some of the biggest buyers include Microsoft, Salesforce and Amazon.

Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (ICVCM) has added Verra and Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) to its list which meet its Core-Carbon Principles rule book.

Organizations

Allowing companies to buy credits from projects that lock carbon away, such as mangrove restoration, and use them to offset their emissions is seen as an important way to help developing countries protect the environment.

But growth has been held back by challenges including concerns over the origination, credibility and efficacy of certain credits, and the claims made about buying them.

ICVCM, which is backed by Bezos Earth Fund and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, is working to address these.

Pedro Barata, co-chair of the expert panel for ICVCM told Reuters that its standards make a compelling case that companies can invest in “high quality” carbon credits, without needing to worry about accusations of so-called greenwashing.

Adding Verra and ART to ICVCM’s approved list, which includes ACR, CAR and Gold Standard, means its governance and transparency standards now cover programmes which have a 98% share of the market, based on carbon credits retired in 2023.   

It marks the first step in a process that will see Core Carbon Principle-labelled credits issued in the market and comes as part of efforts to scale-up the voluntary market for buying and selling carbon offsets by setting rules for what high quality credits and appropriate offsetting activities look like.

ICVCM’s next step is its ongoing assessment of the different methodologies carbon crediting programmes use to produce credits which range from afforestation to cooking stoves.

It is working through 100 such methodologies and expects to announce its first decisions in June.

(Reporting by Virginia Furness; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Related Articles

FILE PHOTO: The logo of American multinational oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil is seen during the LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo
ChemicalsCourtsIndustryOilPolitics

Exxon, under fire over plastic recycling, spending $200 million to expand Texas plants

California filed a lawsuit against Exxon alleging the company was deliberately misleading...

People walk with the Baku Olympic Stadium in the background during the the UN climate summit (Peter Dejong/AP)
Climate FinancePoliticsUnited Nations

UN chief tells countries to ‘soften hard lines’ amid deadlock in climate talks

“Amidst geopolitical divisions and uncertainties, the world needs countries to come together...

FILE PHOTO: A drilling rig on a lease owned by Oasis Petroleum performs logging operations in the Permian Basin oil and natural gas producing area near Wink, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. Picture taken August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo
FuelNatural Gas

US natural gas drillers to lift 2025 output, reversing year of cuts

Rising demand for natural gas exports should boost average annual gas prices...

People walk at the entrance of the venue of the United Nations climate change conference COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Climate FinancePoliticsUnited Nations

New proposals published on COP29 climate finance target

The goal of COP29 is to agree how much money richer countries...

Login into your Account

Please login to like, dislike or bookmark this article.