Standards Endorsement

The Standards Endorsement Procedure is open to any VCM Standard who demonstrates compliance with the Standards Endorsement Review Criteria.

Terms & Conditions

Endorsement of Voluntary Carbon Market Standards

Categories tested in the third-party assessment include

  • Independence
  • Governance
  • Registry
  • Validation/verification
  • Carbon crediting principles
  • Environmental/ social impacts
  • Stakeholder considerations
  • Scale

Standards Endorsement Procedure Overview

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Standards Endorsement Procedure Guide

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New Standards Review Criteria Summary

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Standards Endorsement Application Form

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Endorsed Standards

ENDORSED UN AND GOVERNMENT STANDARDS

*Further clarity is expected following the approval of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement at COP26

ENDORSED INDEPENDENT STANDARDS*

CONDITIONALLY** ENDORSED INDEPENDENT STANDARDS

*Assessed by ICROA on the basis of the Review Criteria. Both Endorsed Standards and Conditionally Endorsed Standards are required to proactively inform ICROA of any updates or changes on an annual basis before Q3 of each year, along with the supporting documentation for an official technical review. Failure to do so may result in exclusion from the Code. For more information, please contact the ICROA Secretariat.

​**Conditional Endorsement is attributed to Standards that meet ICROA criteria for endorsement, and are pending the achievement of set threshold values in order to validate the full operationalisation of the Programme (e.g. registered projects, issued credits, etc). ICROA Accredited Organisations can use carbon credits from conditionally endorsed standards and will be Code compliant. For more details, please contact the ICROA Secretariat.

Approved Emissions Factors:

  • New Zealand: Ministry for the Environment – National Emissions Factors
  • Australia: Department of the Environment and Energy – National Greenhouse Accounts Factors
  • Germany: BMU (Federal Ministry for the Environment)
  • Netherlands: Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment – National Emission Factors
  • UK: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – Current GHG conversion factors
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Emission Factors Database

ICROA Code of Best Practice

ICROA code