New Standard Clears Path for Corporate Investment in Supply Chain Decarbonization

Newly released Standard and Guidance from the AIM Platform allows companies to evaluate, assess, and account for actions taken to reduce Scope 3 emissions.

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform today released Version 1 of its Standard and Guidance, providing companies with a clear, credible framework for investing in high integrity emissions reductions across their value chains. Companies with emissions reduction goals, including those validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, face a critical challenge: while these goals could mobilize trillions of dollars in private capital, organizations have lacked guidance on which investments qualify as "in value chain," how to assess their integrity, and how to account for their climate impact. This uncertainty has slowed action and limited large-scale deployment of capital towards real-world decarbonization. The AIM Platform Standard and Guidance addresses this gap with a unified approach for identifying eligible value chain decarbonization investments, evaluating their quality, and transparently accounting for results. The publication integrates feedback and revisions from the draft AIM Platform Association Test and the draft AIM Platform Intervention Quality, Accounting and Reporting Standard and Guidance (QAR) into a single, practical resource designed for corporate decision-makers.

"To unlock private climate finance at the scale needed, companies must have confidence in both the integrity and impact of their investments," said Kim Carnahan, CEO of the Center for Green Market Activation. "The AIM Platform Standard and Guidance provides that foundation, enabling companies to translate decarbonization goals into meaningful, real-world action. This marks a critical inflection point for corporate climate action."

The publication of the AIM Platform Standard & Guidance is the culmination of a development process begun in early 2023 with the launch of the AIM Platform, a cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder initiative. Its mission is to unlock vast new sums of climate finance by bringing civil society and the private sector together to remove roadblocks to value chain mitigation, while catalyzing the decarbonization transition in critical sectors of the economy – from grid electricity to transport, building materials, food, and agriculture, which yield air quality and job benefits. The AIM Platform is convened by the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA), Gold Standard, and Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and overseen by a Governing Committee comprised of up to 15 independent members representing environmental NGOs, standard setting organizations, academia, and the public sector.

"Companies making meaningful financial commitments to decarbonize their value chains need a credible way to demonstrate that those investments produce real emissions reductions — and to count them toward their net zero goals with confidence," said Verena Radulovic, Vice President of Business Engagement for C2ES. "That is exactly what the AIM Platform delivers: an evidence-based foundation that gives companies the integrity, the accountability, and the ambition their climate commitments require."

More than 30 companies, including Amazon, Anthesis Group, Apple, ClimeCo, Dow, Heidelberg Materials, Indigo Ag, Meta, Netflix, NORDEN, Patagonia, REI Co-op, and Schneider Electric, participated in pilot testing of the Standard and Guidance, providing real-world feedback on the Association Test and the QAR across multiple sectors. The diverse set of climate solutions tested included electrification of fossil-based industrial equipment, capture and utilization of on-farm methane emissions, and innovative procurements enabling the switch to low and zero carbon transportation. Additional stakeholders contributed through multiple rounds of public consultation, providing critical feedback to ensure the Standard and Guidance fulfills practical needs and represents a thorough, inclusive process.

"Driving meaningful change across complex global value chains requires the right set of tools," said Owen Hewlett, Chief Technical Officer at Gold Standard. "The AIM Platform has been shaped by strong governance and diverse expertise, ensuring that Version 1 of the Standard and Guidance is a well-balanced, inclusive and credible resource ready to support companies in tackling the challenge of value chain decarbonization."

By establishing a common set of operating principles for companies to assess and report on their value chain decarbonization investments, the AIM Platform provides companies with confidence that those investments are high integrity, accountable, and associated with their value chain.

The AIM Platform will present a free webinar on the newly released Standard and Guidance on April 21, 2026. Companies can download the Standard and Guidance and review all public documentation at aimplatform.org.

About the AIM Platform

The Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform is a cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder initiative jointly established in early 2023 by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), the Center for Green Market Activation, and Gold Standard. The AIM Platform seeks to unlock vast new sums of private climate finance by bringing together civil society and the private sector to remove roadblocks to value chain mitigation and ignite sectoral transition. Our vision is a world where businesses can easily account for and claim value chain emissions interventions, driving collective climate action, scaling advanced, low-carbon technologies, and enabling the transition to a sustainable economy in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

For more information, visit aimplatform.org or email [email protected].

SOURCE AIM Platform