Sustainability
Cookstoves
Verra
Afforestation
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved version 5 of Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) programme and 13 of its methodologies under the Core Carbon Principles (CCP), the sector’s highest-integrity quality label. The decision, announced on 2 September 2026, opens a route to the CCP mark for credits from eligible VCS projects.
The CCP label is ICVCM’s benchmark for high-quality carbon credits. A credit earns the mark only when both the crediting programme and the specific methodology behind it hold ICVCM approval, so buyers can trace quality to the method rather than the label alone.
“ICVCM has recognised the latest version of Verra’s VCM Programme, which was released in December 2025, as meeting the CCP criteria: the highest benchmark of quality in the voluntary carbon market,” ICVCM stated in a note.
The approved methodologies span nature-based and other activities. They cover afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation, improved forest management, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), together with biochar, improved rice management, and cookstoves. Landfill gas, renewable electricity, and coal-mine methane methodologies are also included.
“The ICVCM has also approved 13 methodologies that are active in the VCS Program, as well as the VCS Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ Framework, as meeting the criteria of the CCP Assessment Framework,” the note added.
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Verra released VCS version 5 in December 2025 and completed its full operationalisation in June 2026. The update tightened non-permanence safeguards, increased baseline checks, and strengthened consent rules. It also expanded digital and insurance-based alternatives to pooled buffers for managing reversal risk.
Verra now holds the most CCP-approved methodologies of any programme, at 15. The approvals bring the total recognised across all programmes to 47.
Each addition to the CCP roster widens the pool of independently verified credits and points to a carbon market that is maturing around clear, comparable quality standards.
Read more: Want a simpler way to buy carbon credits? Discover our carbon marketplace
As carbon accounting standards consolidate and formally recognise market instruments, demand for credible carbon credits will grow alongside them. Businesses preparing for this shift need a dependable supply they can stand behind: credits that are verified, traceable, and backed by real environmental results. Green Earth provides that supply. Through our customer-friendly carbon marketplace, we give businesses access to high-integrity carbon credits from nature-based carbon projects that restore ecosystems and support local communities, so you can meet rising expectations for quality with confidence.
