Renewable energy carbon credits rejected by high integrity system

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market has decided that existing renewable energy methodologies are insufficient to prove that their emissions reductions are additional.

Carbon credits earned from renewable energy projects have failed to get a new quality mark from a key watchdog, casting fresh doubt on popular emissions offsets favored by multinationals such as Audi, Shell and Total.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) announced on Tuesday that eight renewable energy methodologies, which cover around a third of the carbon credits available in the voluntary market, cannot use the "Core Carbon Principles" (CCP) seal of approval.

ICVCM, an independent watchdog, aims to address widespread concerns about the quality of carbon credits after many projects were accused of overstating their climate and social benefits. It assesses groups of offset projects to determine whether they comply with the CCP criteria, which are designed to identify and promote highly integrated carbon credits that meet management, emission reduction and sustainable development requirements. (Matteo Civillini, Joe Lo, more at climatechangenews.com)