VCM Integrity

VCM Integrity

Hub for ideas, institutions, and rules that determine the environmental and social integrity of the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Key dimensions

• Supply-side integrity: additionality, baseline setting, permanence, leakage, safeguards, MRV quality.
• Demand-side integrity: credible claims and use of credits (e.g., correspondence with Article 6, avoidance of double counting, corporate claims frameworks).
• Governance: independent standard-setters and initiatives that define “high-integrity” supply and use of credits.

Connected institutions and initiatives

• World Resources Institute (WRI) – research and policy analysis on carbon markets, Article 6, and corporate climate strategies.
• Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) – guidance on high-integrity demand-side use of VCM credits.
• Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) – core carbon principles and assessment framework for high-integrity supply (linked via ICVCM thought).
• Taskforce for Scaling up Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) – precursor effort to scale VCMs, feeding into subsequent integrity initiatives.
• Article 6 – UNFCCC framework for international transfers, with implications for how VCM credits relate to NDCs and ITMOs.

Use this hub to connect people, reports, and standards that affect how VCM integrity is understood in climate finance and policy.