Cercarbono, a Colombia-based voluntary carbon market (VCM) registry, launched updated versions of its procedures and land-use carbon removal methodology earlier this week. These updates by Cercarbono are announced against key assessment deadlines for program eligibility for the first phase of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
Nature-based Removals Update
The updated methodology, Reforestation, Forest Restoration and Establishment of Woody Agricultural Crops (CM-LU-002), is one of five active methodologies from Cercarbono. This methodology, as well as Cercarbono’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) methodology, are the only ones classified as land use, although Cercarbono also recently approved the Savimbo Indicator Species Biodiversity Methodology for use in biodiversity crediting projects under its own Biodiversity Certification Program.
Initially, a public consultation period for the methodology was held from 26 July to 26 August 2024. Cercarbono released a response to comments in October 2024. Following this consultation, a final revision and third-party evaluation were made before the methodology’s 4 March 2025 release. As part of efforts to simplify the afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) methodology, key updates for CM-LU-002 include:
- Periodic review of baselines;
- Native species prioritization;
- Woody agricultural crops (not guaranteed);
- REDD+ methodology integration improvements;
- Credit ownership mechanisms to support community benefits; and
- Digital tools improvement for accessibility and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV)
Procedural Changes
Cercarbono’s procedural changes include updating the scope of its Procedures of Cercarbono's Certification Program, partly to facilitate the integration of multiple projects within the boundaries of a single project area. This is due to the release of new procedural guidance to prevent double counting, since it was previously addressed within Cercarbono's certification program procedures. The update separates this into a complementary document, while modifying the original procedures to align with the revised scope.
The Protocol for Voluntary Carbon Certification was updated as well by expands the scope of leakage assessments for project developers. In particular, the replacement and displacement of equipment or hardware is explicitly described to integrate it in net greenhouse gas emissions calculations.
CORSIA Phase 1 Approval Remains
Cercarbono received conditional approval from CORSIA's Technical Advisory Board (TAB) on 17 November 2023. This conditional approval was for the first phase of CORSIA, which covers the 2024-2026 compliance cycle and was contingent on implementing the changes requested by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Cercarbono then submitted these updates in April 2024, but further procedural updates were still required before they could be fully approved for Phase 1.
For the programs already eligible for the first phase of CORSIA, ICAO has developed a separate re-assessment process to receive approval for the second phase. The re-assessment deadline, which currently applies to six crediting programs, has been extended to 21 March 2025; however, the submission of program changes for the first phase remains 3 March 2025. The TAB also has a second deadline of 1 August 2025 as part of their CORSIA review cycle, and the results of TAB’s 2025 assessment cycle will be considered by ICAO’s council later this fall. More information can be found in a presentation from the TAB’s webinar in February.
Going Forward
The changes made by Cercarbono are expected to lead to CORSIA approval for the first phase, as the registry has already submitted two rounds of changes before the most recent one. Over half of the first phase is already complete, but regulated entities still have until 31 January 2028 to retire credits and meet compliance obligations. Cercarbono is also awaiting an assessment decision from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) from its program-level Core Carbon Principles (CCP) application.
Cercarbono has over 200 active projects registered—mostly in Latin America but also in Asia and Africa. Approximately 30% of Cercarbono’s total portfolio falls under CM-LU-002, so future assessments by CORSIA and ICVCM on the updated ARR methodology are expected to have a significant supply-side impact on the VCM. This also applies to the program-level updates, as Cercarbono seeks alignment with ICVCM’s CCP label and Article 6.4 to be an eligible source of credits.