The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) is pleased to announce that the Governing Board of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved ART at the crediting program level as “Core Carbon Principles (CCP) Eligible.”

This announcement represents the first step in the ICVCM assessment process. It means that ART will be able to label CCP-Approved carbon credits from CCP-Approved Categories of carbon credits as those approvals are earned in the next step of assessment.

“We appreciate this recognition of the rigor of our program and will continue to engage constructively with ICVCM to defend best practices in a world that is demanding not only carbon market integrity, but also inclusivity and urgency,” said Mary Grady, ART’s Executive Director. “ART’s mission is to catalyze significant new private sector finance for forest countries that are protecting and restoring forests at scale. As part of the ICVCM process, ART will continue to bring our expertise and experience to the table by participating on the governing board and expert working groups.”

In 2023, deforestation and forest degradation contributed 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon emissions to the atmosphere (Source). ART’s goal is to provide the confidence needed in the environmental and social integrity of emissions reductions and removals from forest protection and restoration to unlock finance at scale for ambitious climate action and to incentivize governments to achieve results. Currently, ART has 20 jurisdictions across 16 countries in the crediting process, some of which are national governments and some subnational.

ART’s approach to program quality has earned it approval to issue credits for use in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) for both the pilot phase 2021-2023 and the first phase 2024-2026 (the other program currently eligible for the first phase being ART’s sister program, ACR). In February 2024, ART issued carbon credits to Guyana as the Government of Guyana simultaneously announced the world’s first Paris Agreement corresponding adjustment, which was authorized and reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

To become approved as meeting CCP requirements, 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 additional criteria around effective governance, credit tracking, transparency, and robust, independent third-party validation and verification.

While ART views this as an important step forward, it remains focused on earning CCP-Approved labels for all crediting approaches in its Standard, TREES, including for emission reductions, removals, and High Forest, Low Deforestation (HFLD) jurisdictions. ART expects that ICVCM approval for adherence to the CCPs will provide confidence to buyers in credit quality and allow finance to flow to impactful climate solutions to support the goals of the Paris Agreement. The urgency of climate change demands nothing less.

The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, is a global initiative that seeks to incentivize governments to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), as well as restore forests and protect intact forests (+). ART credits only at the jurisdictional level, to national governments and large subnational jurisdictions. This is important not only for achieving results at scale, but also because it provides incentives to governments of supplier jurisdictions to regulate land-use and enforce laws. Learn more at ARTredd.org.