The Claims Code of Practice launched by the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) and backed by the British government, aims to guide credible, voluntary use of carbon credits and associated claims. The launch also encouraged stakeholders and businesses to review the Code of Practice and provide feedback as part of a public consultation.
Executive Director of the VCMI, Mark Kenber, said "We need to have something that provides coherence and consistency across corporate claims around carbon credit use, in conjunction with their decarbonisation".
The VCMI builds on benchmarks to assess corporate climate targets, such as the Science Based Targets Initiative, which says a company can only claim to have a credible net zero plan if it uses carbon credits to offset less than 10% of its emissions.
This is designed to limit the scope for companies to use offsets to claim they have cut emissions, when in fact they continue to release planet-warming gases into the atmosphere from their own operations.
The final version of the VCMI Claims Code of Practice is expected to be published early 2023.