As part of its effort to rebuild market trust The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved a set of fresh cookstove methodologies from Gold Standard and Verra that have strictire requirements.
Credits generated through the methodologies will now be able to add the ICVCM’s CCP (Core Carbon Principles) label, aimed at increasing confidence in the market.
The Integrity Council’s CEO Amy Merrill said: “We know how important clean cooking is for homes around the world and how much impact it can have in health, pollution and climate terms. These first cookstove and biodigester approvals will strengthen the sector for the future: the strict conditions for CCP labelling show what is best in class. This will provide the confidence needed to ensure that carbon finance can flow into these projects, enabling them to deliver their social, environmental and health benefits to communities around the world.”
The three approved methodologies are:
- Gold Standard – Methodology for Metered & Measured Energy Cooking Devices versions 1-1.2
- Gold Standard – Reduced Emissions from Cooking and Heating – Technologies and Practices to Displace Decentralized Thermal Energy Consumption (TPDDTEC) version 4.0
- Verra (VCS) – VM0050 – Energy Efficiency and Fuel-Switch Measures in Cookstoves version 1.0
Each of the them is designed to reduce over-crediting, one of the key challenges carbon credit projects have received strong criticism for. One of the key metrics that is being changed is the average fNRB rate (fraction of non-renewable biomass). A level below 0.5 (or 50%) will now be required to obtain the CCP label, whereas the market average is currently at 0.86.
The approval paves the way for the first CCP-eligible credits from cookstove projects to enter the market. At the time of publishing 185 projects are registered under the methodologies and have managed to issue just under 3 million credits predominantly from the Global South.
Commenting after the announcement Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard, said: “Whenever I visit Gold Standard certified cookstove projects I’m always blown away by the impact that climate finance can have on the lives of people who live in communities most vulnerable to climate change. This decision by the ICVCM highlights the essential role that clean cooking plays in climate mitigation and sustainable development. We are proud that our methodologies have once again been recognised for their scientific rigour and environmental integrity, and l look forward to seeing the sector as a whole go from strength to strength.”
Read more: Gold Standard Begins Testing Digital Measurement, Reporting and Verification (dMRV) Solutions
