Voluntary Carbon Market
Unlike a compliance market, the VCM has no single regulator. Rules and quality signals are set by competing crediting programs, two integrity bodies, and the compliance schemes that buy into it. This page lays out who sets what - each wired to its primary source and to the platform's news, updates and document library.
A credit represents one tonne of CO₂e either avoided/reduced (e.g. avoided deforestation, methane capture) or removed (e.g. afforestation, biochar, direct air capture). It moves through a lifecycle: a methodology defines how to measure it → a project is validated and registered → emissions reductions are monitored and independently verified → credits are issued to a registry and, when used, permanently retired.
Credit quality turns on a handful of dimensions the integrity debate centres on: additionality (would it have happened anyway?), the baseline (against what counterfactual?), permanence (could the carbon be re-released? - backed by buffer pools), leakage, rigorous MRV, and social/environmental safeguards.
After years of criticism over weak baselines and over-crediting, the market has split its integrity function in two: ICVCM sets a supply-side bar (the Core Carbon Principles label on credits that qualify), while VCMI sets a demand-side bar (what a company can credibly claim). Meanwhile CORSIA and Article 6 increasingly connect voluntary supply to compliance demand and to national carbon accounting through corresponding adjustments.
Programs that publish methodologies and issue credits. Each runs its own standard, registry and buffer pool.
The largest crediting program. Its VCS Standard and methodologies (e.g. VM0042 agriculture, VM0048 REDD) set additionality, baseline and MRV; issues Verified Carbon Units (VCUs).
Crediting program emphasising sustainable-development co-benefits; issues credits aligned to the SDGs under its Principles & Requirements.
One of the earliest voluntary registries (Winrock). Issues Emission Reduction Tonnes (ERTs) under approved sector methodologies; CORSIA-approved.
North-America-focused program issuing Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs) under sector protocols (livestock, forestry, ozone-depleting substances).
Marketplace and registry for durable CO2 removals (biochar, enhanced rock weathering, bio-oil); issues CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs).
Community- and smallholder-focused standard for nature-based projects; issues Plan Vivo Certificates (PVCs).
Architecture for REDD+ Transactions. Its TREES standard credits jurisdictional-scale forest protection (TRET units); used by LEAF and CORSIA.
Global Carbon Council. Issues Approved Carbon Credits (ACCs), CORSIA-eligible, with a focus on the Global South.
Sets the quality threshold a credit must meet to be considered high-integrity.
Sets the supply-side quality bar. The Core Carbon Principles (CCP) and Assessment Framework decide which programs and categories earn the CCP label.
Governs what a buyer can credibly claim from retiring credits.
Sets the demand-side bar. The Claims Code of Practice defines what a buyer can credibly claim (Silver / Gold / Platinum) and how to report it.
Where voluntary supply meets compliance demand and national carbon accounting.
ICAO's offsetting scheme for international aviation. Defines eligible emissions units (EEUs) by phase - a major source of compliance-driven demand.
Paris Agreement market mechanisms - 6.2 (ITMOs between countries) and 6.4 (the PACM crediting mechanism). Corresponding adjustments link voluntary supply to national accounting.
Every body above is monitored. See what is moving:
VCM news feed · VCM regulatory updates · crediting pathways for a project · VCM supply & demand model