ARLINGTON, VA – 15 November 2024 - The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) has earned Core Carbon Principle (CCP) approval for the TREES Crediting Level from the Governing Board of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM). Carbon credits issued to jurisdictional REDD+ programs using this crediting approach under The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) are eligible for CCP-Approved Status.
The CCP label, now active in the ART Registry, is applied to credits issued to programs verified for conformance with the crediting approach above. Three jurisdictions (Costa Rica, Ghana and Vietnam) are currently in validation and verification using ART’s TREES Crediting Approach and ART anticipates another six jurisdictions to begin validation and verification in the coming months. These nine jurisdictions are expected to be issued over 120 million TREES Credits. An additional eight jurisdictions are also developing their TREES documents for registration later next year so have not been included in this total. These volumes also do not include credits issued and anticipated to be issued using the TREES High Forest-Low Deforestation (HFLD) or Removals crediting approaches still under assessment by ICVCM.
“We appreciate this recognition of the rigor of our program and look forward to the expeditious completion of the REDD+ category assessment and ICVCM approval announced for all TREES Crediting approaches inclusive of HFLD and Removals,” said Mary Grady, ART’s Executive Director. “Tropical forest countries need finance to reverse existing rates of deforestation as well as to protect and restore forests. TREES offers jurisdictions conservative approaches to certify high-integrity emission reductions and removals at scale for these actions.”
ICVCM approved ART at the program level as “Core Carbon Principles (CCP) Eligible” in May 2024. To become approved, ART submitted an extensive application to ICVCM for assessment. ART provided evidence of being a CORSIA Eligible Emissions Unit Program, in addition to meeting the CCP’s criteria around effective governance, credit tracking, transparency, and robust, independent third-party validation and verification.
About ART
The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) is a global carbon crediting program that certifies high-integrity emission reductions and removals from protecting and restoring forests at scale. ART operates at a jurisdictional scale to align with Paris Agreement requirements for REDD+ and to help finally decouple economic development from forest loss. As the leading global expert on jurisdictional REDD+, ART is led by a dedicated, independent secretariat that is governed by a Board of globally recognized experts. ART engages with key stakeholders to ensure different perspectives are represented in the design and implementation of its program. To ensure social integrity, ART directly aligns with the UN-defined Cancún Safeguards. As a result of its comprehensive efforts, ART serves as a global quality benchmark for jurisdictional REDD+. This role advances ART’s mission, which is to provide the confidence in the environmental and social integrity of emission reductions and removals from forest protection and restoration to unlock finance at scale for ambitious climate action and to incentivize governments to achieve those results. Learn more at ARTredd.org.
