What has to be re-checked when a carbon project renews its crediting period under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) rules?
At renewal the baseline must be reassessed, including whether the original conditions and barriers still hold, and the parameters updated. Existing legal requirements are also re-evaluated at an appropriate frequency, for example at each renewal or at every verification where the period is longer than five years.
Baseline and parameters
Table 5.2 says any renewal of the crediting period shall include a reassessment of the baseline scenario, including whether the conditions and barriers at the start of the activity still prevail, and an update of relevant parameters used to calculate reductions or removals.
Table 10.3 adds that the baseline and its emissions are updated or reviewed at a frequency that appropriately reflects changing circumstances, which could include changes in government policies and legal requirements.
Legal requirements
Table 8.2 says a project is registered only if its credits exceed what enforced legal requirements demand. Legal requirements are deemed enforced in high-income countries and, elsewhere, deemed unenforced only on authoritative, up-to-date evidence of non-enforcement. The evaluation is done before registration and at an appropriate frequency after, for example at each renewal of a crediting period or at every verification where the crediting period is longer than five years. A validation and verification body and/or the program validates it.
Length of the periods
Table 10.7 lists, among the approaches considered to enable conservativeness, combined crediting periods short enough to allow a progressive increase in ambition over time, and appropriate to the activity type, based on, among other things, the rate of technological change, the lifetime of equipment in the baseline or change in the regulatory environment.
What the framework only says it may do
The framework says the ICVCM may consider requiring a reassessment of additionality at renewal for certain categories. That is not a current requirement.
Prepare before the date
- List every rule that has changed since registration, such as an efficiency standard or an emission limit, and note its enforcement date.
- Collect current equipment and fuel records to compare against the original baseline.
- Our reading: if a new law now requires what your project does, expect the renewed baseline to reflect it.
How often the legal check could run for a ten-year period
- Crediting period: 10 years, verified once a year
- Longer than five years, so in our reading the second option applies: a check at every verification
- Verifications in the period: 10, so up to 10 legal checks, plus the one before registration
Our arithmetic from the framework's "for example" wording. The program sets the exact frequency.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, which gives a project its own fuel and power history. Credits are issued by the program's registry and checked by an independent verifier, not by Senseible's own check. The monthly records give the current fuel and electricity use to compare with your baseline year.
- Carbon Credit Trading Scheme offset regulatory surplus rule
- Is a legally required project additional in India
- Length of a Carbon Credit Trading Scheme offset crediting period
- Carbon credits for Indian businesses
Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Based on Assessment Framework version 1.1 (January 2024). The Integrity Council's August 2026 rule architecture says Interpretations and Technical Notices may affect how criteria are assessed, so check icvcm.org for any in effect before you rely on a detail.