Integrity in voluntary carbon markets strengthened

By John Connor, CEO Carbon Market Institute

The Carbon Market Institute supports the decision of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market to withhold its high-integrity Core Carbon Principles label from carbon credits issued without rigorous methodology.

According to the council, the methodologies used to design and implement renewable energy projects failed to meet the requirements on additionality because they are insufficiently rigorous in assessing whether the projects would have gone ahead without the incentive of carbon credit revenues.?

Put simply, additionality means that the project would not have occurred without funding through carbon credits. In both the Australian and international context, this principle safeguards against claims for projects that would have been done irrespective of carbon credit finance.

The recent decision made by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market underscores the growing maturity of carbon market governance internationally. Over time this will support high integrity investments that ultimately facilitate the transition to net zero emissions.

Initiatives like the Carbon Credit Principles are helping to restore trust and build investment confidence in the voluntary carbon market.

Alongside the development of robust compliance markets, the voluntary market can play an important role with appropriate integrity safeguards.

Companies wishing to voluntarily invest in carbon credits to support their sustainability ambitions can rely on this international certification as the best practice standard to assure the quality and integrity of their investments.

At a global level, it is estimated that $9 trillion of public and private investment is needed to achieve a productive and competitive net-zero economy by 2050.

Current investment levels are nowhere near sufficient on a global scale, and a significant proportion of this gap needs to be addressed by private capital.

High integrity carbon markets are one way of directing finance to where it's most needed for mitigation.

For further information on the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market media release.

For further information follow the link to the CMI explainer on voluntary carbon markets: Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (IC-VCM) - Carbon Market Institute