What does the net zero principle in the Core Carbon Principles actually test?

Question

Accepted Answer

Principle 10 says a mitigation activity must avoid locking in levels of greenhouse gas emissions, technologies or carbon-intensive practices that are incompatible with net zero by mid-century. The principle names no technology. The detail sits in the Integrity Council's Assessment Framework and its decisions on each methodology category. The tenth of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) is headed contribution toward net zero transition. It reads: the mitigation activity shall avoid locking in levels of greenhouse gas emissions, technologies or carbon-intensive practices that are incompatible with the objective of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. It does not list banned technologies or give a threshold. So a plant cannot read principle 10 and tell whether coal to gas, a captive power unit or a waste heat project passes. That answer comes from the Council's detailed criteria in its Assessment Framework, and from its decision on the methodology category the project falls under. Principle 10 is one of ten, in three groups: governance, emissions impact, and sustainable impact. A credit can pass on additionality and quantification and still be turned down on this one, or the reverse. The label applies only where the programme is eligible and the methodology category is approved. Which methodology category is this credit from? Has the Council approved that category, and with what conditions? Its assessment status page gives the latest status for programs and categories. Does the registry show the CCP label against this batch of credits, in your name on the retirement record?

What does the net zero principle in the Core Carbon Principles actually test?

The words of the principle

What the principle does not do

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