On 7 March 2025, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) announced its latest Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) assessment results for clean cookstove and household biodigester methodologies. This follows months of anticipation from Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) participants, as the initial results were expected back in 2024. The assessment results are summarized in the table below:.jpg?width=1120&height=909&name=unnamed%20(6).jpg)
No decisions were announced for the sixth cookstove methodology, VMR0006, as Verra withdrew the methodology from the assessment process. The ICVCM Governing Board published its Observations in Relation to Category Assessment for efficient cookstoves and household biodigesters to support future development of methodologies in these categories.
Addressing Overcrediting Risks
The project types announced in today’s assessment have faced significant controversy in recent years due to research indicating potential overcrediting, sometimes by multiples of the actual emissions benefits. To address previous concerns, carbon credits generated from the approved methodologies must meet the following three conditions to qualify for the CCP label:
- The fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB) must be derived using the Modeling Fuelwood Savings Scenario (MoFuSS) model or, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) default of 0.3 may be applied for a limited period.
- Fuel consumption must be determined either by using a Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) or Controlled Cooking Test (CCT) or using methodology default values with cross-checks on fuel savings.
- For projects using charcoal, a direct charcoal emission factor or a wood-to-charcoal conversion factor of 4:1 must be used.
The fNRB represents the portion of woody biomass fuel used in cookstove and household biodigester projects that comes from non-renewable sources. This is a critical parameter for calculating carbon credits, as only emissions reductions from non-renewable biomass contribute to credit generation. The ICVCM has set strict new conditions requiring projects to use either the MoFuSS model or the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) default value of 0.3 (allowed only until 31 December 2025) to determine fNRB values. The ICVCM considers this CDM value conservative.
This marks a significant change from current market practices, as the average fNRB rate in existing projects is 0.86. The new ICVCM conditions are expected to result in values below 0.5, adopting a more conservative approach to calculating fNRB. As a result, the number of carbon credits issued per project is likely to decrease significantly. With these changes, CCP-approved methodologies seek to address previous concerns while ensuring greater market integrity.
Supply and Demand Impacts
Given the strict conditions imposed by the ICVCM for CCP-labeled credits, the ICVCM anticipates that several hundred thousand tonnes of credits will be issued in the coming year. These credits will be generated from new projects in the current pipeline utilizing the approved methodologies, as well as existing projects updating their carbon accounting calculations to align with the requisite conditions.
Two cookstove and two household biodigester methodologies were rejected after determining that their quantification methods were insufficiently rigorous in measuring fuel consumption and ongoing technology usage. Currently, more than 37 million of these credits are available in the VCM.
Future Decisions
In their press release, the ICVCM provided an update on upcoming decisions. Earlier versions of the Gold Standard Technologies and Practices to Displace Decentralized Thermal Energy Consumption (TPDDTEC) methodology are in the final stages of assessment. Additionally, the ICVCM expects decisions on ART TREES REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard V2.0, specifically for the High Forest, Low Deforestation (HFLD) and Removals Crediting Approach by the end of Q2.
During ClearBlue Market’s and Calyx Global’s joint webinar, The State of Quality and Pricing in the VCM, panel participants addressed audience questions and mentioned that assessment decisions on Improved Forest Management (IFM) methodologies could also be announced by the end of Q2.
More information on the assessment status for the CCP program can be found here. Please reach out if you would like to discuss this development and the impact of CCP credits.