What are the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles, and how do I know a credit has the CCP label?
The Core Carbon Principles are ten integrity tests for carbon credits set by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM). A credit carries the CCP label only when its programme is CCP-eligible and its methodology category is CCP-approved. Check the label on the programme's registry entry, not in a seller's brochure.
The ten principles, in three groups
- Governance: effective governance of the programme; tracking in a registry; transparency of project documents; robust independent third-party validation and verification.
- Emissions impact: additionality; permanence; robust quantification of reductions and removals; no double counting.
- Sustainable development: sustainable development benefits and safeguards; contribution toward the transition to net zero.
Two separate approvals sit behind the label
ICVCM assesses carbon crediting programmes, such as Verra's VCS or Gold Standard, against its Assessment Framework. A programme that passes becomes CCP-eligible. Separately, ICVCM assesses methodology categories, such as landfill gas or improved cookstoves, and approves or rejects them.
Only credits from an approved methodology, issued by an eligible programme, and meeting any conditions attached to that approval can be tagged CCP. A credit from an eligible programme is not automatically CCP-labelled. In 2024 ICVCM decided that grid-connected renewable energy methodologies do not meet the additionality test, so those credits do not get the label.
How to check a specific credit
- Get the project ID and the serial numbers or vintage of the credits on offer.
- Open the project on the programme's own registry and look for the CCP label or tag on that batch of credits.
- Cross-check the methodology against ICVCM's published decisions on approved categories, and note the date of the decision.
- Ask for the label to appear on the retirement record in your name; a statement from the seller is not enough.
What the label does not tell you
The label is a floor for integrity, not a price or quality ranking among labelled credits. It does not cover whether your use of the credit is an acceptable claim; claims guidance comes from separate bodies such as VCMI. It also does not make a credit count toward an SBTi near-term target.
What Senseible does here
Senseible does not issue, label or rate carbon credits and does not check registry entries. It gives carbon credit eligibility signals from a company's own records and lists marketplace offers; the CCP check described here is the buyer's own diligence.
Sources: ICVCM Core Carbon Principles, Assessment Framework and Assessment Procedure; ICVCM decisions on programmes and methodology categories, VCMI Claims Code of Practice
Last reviewed 2026-10-15. ICVCM approves programmes and methodology categories on a rolling basis; check its decision list on the date you buy.