VCMI Provisional Code of Practice

The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative is developing a Claims Code of Practice to guide credible, voluntary use of carbon credits and associated claims. The Claims Code of Practice (CoP) will guide companies to make transparent and credible claims about their progress towards a longer-term Net-Zero commitment.

Development process

In 2021, VCMI launched a consultation with stakeholders from civil society, the private sector, Indigenous Peoples’ groups, governments, businesses, and others to gather views on how carbon credits can be voluntarily used and claimed by businesses as part of credible net-zero strategies.

The results, based on feedback from 52 organizations including 22 businesses and 19 NGOs, make clear that:

• It will be critical to support businesses in their engagement with the marketplace and guide private sector investment to ensure it is equitable.
• Capacity building is key to ensuring that a wide range of countries are able to benefit from voluntary carbon markets.
• Claims Guidance should align with the need to limit future warming to 1.5C.
• Accounting and reporting must be underpinned by agreed definitions and processes.
• Aligning Claims Guidance with regulation and governance mechanisms will require a focus on Article 6.

The VCMI Claims Code of Practice is now being developed through a balanced, transparent, and inclusive stakeholder process. The VCMI is proactively engaging with interested organizations, providing a range of options to engage with the process, including:

• Targeted input on initial thinking with >60 participants from a broad spectrum of business, country, NGO, Indigenous Peoples and Local communities stakeholders on early drafts of the CoP (March – April 2022)
• A road-test with corporate participants (June – August 2022)
• Deep dives with Non-State Actors (NSAs) (June – August 2022)
• Public consultation (June – Aug 2022)

Provide feedback with the VCMI Claims Code of Practice public consultation feedback form here.