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Management initiatives ICVCM, VCMI and SBTi represent key actors in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) ecosystem, whose common goal is to establish principles and guidelines to increase transparency, quality and trust. These initiatives have emerged in response to growing concerns about market integrity and seeking to define a framework for high-integrity carbon projects and claims.
ICVCM (Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market)
Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Council is primarily focused on offer page carbon credits. Its main tasks and characteristics include:
- Quality assurance: The ICVCM sets global principles and guidelines to improve the quality of carbon credits issued.
- Support for transparent claims: Although it focuses on the supply side, it supports demand-side requirements that are transparent, accurate and supported exclusively by high-quality credits.
- Building trust: It acts as an institution that helps build a credible global framework for carbon markets to deliver lasting benefits for the climate, people and nature.
VCMI (Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative)
Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative focuses primarily on directing corporate claims related to the purchase of credits. Its key approaches include:
- Contribution claims: VCMI encourages companies to declare that they are financing climate change mitigation across their value chain, rather than using vague terms like „carbon neutrality.“.
- Ambition tags: It offers ratings in the form of silver, gold and platinum labels that reflect the level of climate ambition of a given company.
- Risk reduction: Its guidelines help prevent the risks associated with greenwashing and misleading marketing claims.
SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative)
Science-Based Targets Initiative defines how companies should set their decarbonisation targets in line with the latest scientific knowledge. Its rules for the use of carbon credits are strict:
- Exclusion from emission reduction targets: Carbon credits are cannot be used to meet emission reduction targets under Scope 1, 2 and 3.
- Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM): Credits are permissible as a tool for financing climate action beyond mandatory targets, but only after the company has made deep internal reductions in its own emissions.
- Focus on residual emissions: Under SBTi, it is assumed that many companies will only use credits to offset residual emissions that represent less than 10 % of their original footprint.
- Net Zero Compliance: Voluntary net-zero pledges should be consistent with credible scientific trajectories defined by SBTi. JRi&CO2AI
Source:
UNDP_Carbon Market Toolkit_Module 1.1
