Integrity Council Announces Timetable for New Voluntary Carbon Market Standards

Core Carbon Principles and Assessment Framework will be issued in Q3, following public consultation launching in May

"If we build high integrity, scale will follow." Hugh Sealy, Co-Chair of the Integrity Council

LONDON, March 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (the Integrity Council), an independent governance body for the voluntary carbon market, announced today it will launch a definitive set of global threshold standards that will set a global benchmark for carbon credit quality in the third quarter of 2022, following a public consultation opening in May.

The Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and Assessment Framework (AF) will set new threshold standards for high-quality carbon credits, provide guidance on how to apply the CCPs, and define which carbon-crediting programs and methodology types are CCP-eligible.

Annette Nazareth, Co-Chair of the Integrity Council, said: "To secure a liveable future, we urgently need to ensure that every tool available to us is working as effectively as possible to reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions. The voluntary carbon market has a critical role to play in accelerating a just transition to 1.5 degrees centigrade, but it can only succeed if it is rooted in high integrity."

The standards are being developed by the Integrity Council's Expert Panel which is made up of twelve of the world's leading scientists on the carbon markets, supported by eleven subject matter experts in topics ranging from carbon sequestration science to the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs).

Hugh Sealy, Co-Chair of the Integrity Council, said: "High quality carbon credits are an important complementary tool to reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions above and beyond what would otherwise be possible, and to channel finance towards climate-resilient development. If we build integrity, scale will follow, but to do that, we must listen and learn from many different sources of knowledge and experience in the market and society at large, which is why we're launching a full public consultation."

The public consultation will be open to all, and is expected to attract interest from key stakeholder groups engaged in the voluntary carbon market, including finance, business, NGOs, IPLC groups, scientists, governments and members of the public. It will be overseen by the British Standards Institute (BSI), which has over one hundred years of experience in standard setting, and will launch in May, lasting 30 days. Details on how to take part will be published on the Integrity Council website, and will be communicated via the Integrity Council's newsletter and social media channels.

The Integrity Council's Expert Panel is co-chaired by Pedro Martins Barrata of EDF (Environmental Defense Fund), Daniel Ortega-Pacheco (ESPOL Polytechnic University) and Lambert Schneider (Öko-Institute). The list of core Expert Panel members was published for the first time today on the Integrity Council website.

About the Integrity Council

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (Integrity Council) is an independent governance body for the voluntary carbon market, which aims to ensure the voluntary carbon market accelerates a just transition to 1.5 degrees centigrade.

The Integrity Council sets and enforces definitive global threshold standards for the voluntary carbon market, drawing on the best science and expertise available, in order to channel finance towards genuine and additional greenhouse gas reductions and removals that go above and beyond what can otherwise be achieved, and that contribute to climate resilient development.

SOURCE Integrity Council