At COP28 in Dubai, the announcement of a powerful carbon standard coalition marked a significant step forward in global efforts to address climate change. The coalition brings together the leading independent carbon crediting standards, including ACR, ART, Climate Action Reserve, Global Carbon Council, Gold Standard, and Verra.

The standards plan to establish a structure to continue exchanging knowledge to improve their crediting programs, better assist activities that bring about mitigation and real community benefits, and offer strong mechanisms for countries to implement their Article 6 strategies.

The organizations will establish a structure to maintain ongoing support for unbiased and strong evaluation of crediting programs to guarantee they adhere to the most rigorous credit standards.

They endorse the efforts of the ICVCM in setting minimum benchmarks for credit quality throughout the market and aspire to see these benchmarks increase in the future.

Their efforts will focus on harmonizing criteria based on universal principles for the measurement and recording of removals and reductions. They will also strive to prolong the effectiveness of CO2 sinks and provide insurance against reversals.

Relevant: ICVCM Publishes Criteria For Core Carbon Principle Standards

Another aspect of their shared effort will focus on developing measures to emphasize the positive impact of projects on communities, highlight advancements in sustainable development, and prevent negative consequences. Additionally, they will aim to enhance the transparency surrounding CO2 credits and facilitate the transfer of financial resources to developing nations.

All six participants in the carbon standard coalition have been accredited within the International Civil Aviation Organization’s CORSIA market, the first worldwide compliance regime, and are currently pursuing evaluation under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s Core Carbon Principles (CCPs).

The organizations have expressed their openness to receiving contributions from other autonomous accreditation programs for the collaboration.

Read more: Independent Report Finds Gold Standard Carbon Credits To Be Reliable