ACR Submits Application for ICVCM Assessment

ACR submitted our application to have our internationally recognized crediting program assessed against the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCPs).

ACR shares ICVCM’s theory of change: “build integrity and scale will follow.” We will only meet the goals of the Paris Agreement with robust global carbon markets, so our collective work is central to our shared future on this planet.

ACR has a proven track record of developing and implementing rigorous science-based carbon accounting methodologies, which make us a strong candidate for approval by the ICVCM. Our technical qualifications are the basis of our role over the last decade as the leading Offset Project Registry for California’s flagship cap-and-trade program, for which ACR has issued 2/3 of the credits used by compliance entities towards their regulatory obligations.

ACR is also approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to supply credits to the world’s first global compliance offset market, CORSIA. The ICVCM Assessment Framework includes a “fast track” pathway for CORSIA-eligible programs. ACR and our sister organization, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), meet this ICVCM requirement as we are both approved by ICAO to supply credits for the 2021-2023 CORSIA period, including post-2020 credits for this period and for the first CORSIA compliance period 2024-2026.

The ICVCM Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) are designed to give the market confidence in the integrity of carbon crediting programs and resulting credits.  ACR is confident that it meets criteria that crediting programs must meet to qualify for the CCP label. In addition to ensuring robust governance and transparent oversight of verification and registry processes, projects to reduce and remove emissions must be additional to BAU, robustly quantified, compatible with a transition to net zero, and durable in terms of addressing and mitigating risks associated with non-permanence of emission reductions.

As the ICVCM process progresses, ACR will remain engaged through ICVCM’s technical working groups, including those for category assessments and continuous improvement. Mary Grady, executive director of both ACR and ART, serves on the ICVCM Governing Board; noting that she is a non-voting Board member and will not be involved in decisions ICVCM makes about any crediting programs, including ACR and ART.

ACR and ART are enterprises of Environmental Resources Trust, which is a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of Winrock International.