UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum

Investments in carbon credits offer huge potential for tackling the immense and inequitable challenge of climate change. They can facilitate a just transition. Voluntary carbon markets will allow capital to flow to projects that reduce/avoid or remove/sequester carbon and to propel new carbon capture technologies. The growing demand for a supply of quality carbon credits provides a catalyst to the innovation and behavioural shift needed from a broad range of private, corporate and government actors.

An increasing number of corporates are making net zero commitments and building carbon credits into their net zero pathways, necessitating sustainable large scale VCM growth. A scaled VCM can deliver private funding to climate and nature-positive investments, potentially channelling billions of dollars of investment from the Global North to the Global South.

The UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum was established in April 2021 to operationalise recommendations of the global Taskforce for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), by providing a high integrity market ecosystem that aims to develop verifiable, and effective offset solutions.

The Forum is chaired by Dame Clara Furse, with City of London providing secretariat support. General inquiries can be directed to VCM@cityoflondon.gov.uk

The Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets

The City of London Corporation has also been selected to be a founding sponsor of a new governance body for VCMs, The Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (Integrity Council or IC-VCM).

The Integrity Council launch marks a significant step towards high-quality and scaled VCMs. This new body is now working to finalise the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs), set the threshold standards for the VCMs, provide oversight over standard setting organisations on adherence to the CCPs and coordinate the work between individual bodies within the carbon markets.

Its purpose is to ensure the voluntary carbon market accelerates a just transition to 1.5ºC.

It does this by setting and enforcing definitive global threshold standards, drawing on the best science and expertise available, so high-quality carbon credits channel finance towards genuine and additional greenhouse gas reductions and removals that go above and beyond what can otherwise be achieved, and contribute to climate resilient development.

The Integrity Council is uniquely positioned to ensure the integrity of the VCM because it is built on world-leading and globally diverse expertise from across the carbon market value chain.

We encourage you to watch and share 'A call to action', a trailer which sets out what voluntary carbon markets can achieve, and the Integrity Council’s forthcoming work around the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and Assessment Framework (AF).

Together these will set new threshold standards for high-quality carbon credits, provide guidance on how to apply the CCPs, and define which carbon-crediting programs and methodology types are CCP-eligible.