Verra has published a comprehensive document detailing the requirements and procedures for applying the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label to Verified Carbon Units (VCUs). The newly released ‘ICVCM CCP Label Guidance, v1.0’ follows the ICVCM’s recent approvals of the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Programme (May 2024), VCS Methodology VM0048 for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (November 2024), and VCS Methodology VM0047 for Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (December 2024).
Projects using ICVCM-approved methodologies will automatically receive a CCP label for their issued VCUs, provided they meet additional criteria where applicable. However, certain scenarios require proponents to actively request a CCP label through the Verra Registry, as outlined in the guidance like when VCUs are eligible for a CCP label but one was not automatically applied and when a project transitions to an ICVCM-approved methodology for past monitoring periods.
A digital form for CCP label requests will be introduced in 2025, with detailed usage instructions to follow.
Verra has also issued two new guidance documents to facilitate VCS projects wishing to update their methodologies. The first is ‘Methodology Change and Requantification Procedure, v4.0’ which enables projects to update methodologies or versions for past verification periods. The second is ‘Procedure to Change Methodology through a Project Description Deviation, v4.0’ which guides updating methodologies for current and future monitoring periods.
These updates aim to streamline the integration of ICVCM-approved methodologies and enhance the credibility of carbon credit projects under the VCS Programme.
