Nearly all existing carbon credits generated by cleaner cookstove projects cannot use a market-leading quality label unless they switch to more stringent methods of calculating emission reductions approved by a leading voluntary carbon market watchdog.
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) announced on Friday that it has rejected two popular rulebooks for carbon-offsetting activities that aim to cut emissions by introducing more fuel-efficient cookstoves in households primarily in the Global South. The carbon savings are then sold as carbon credits.
Credits issued under the methodologies, currently used by most cookstove projects, cannot claim the “Core Carbon Principles” (CCP) seal of approval after the ICVCM judged their criteria to be “insufficiently rigorous”. Another rulebook used by hundreds of projects was withdrawn from the assessment process after carbon standard Verra developed a replacement methodology.
Nearly two-thirds – 64% – of all cookstove offsets available in the market at the end of 2024 were based on those methodologies, according to an analysis of data published by the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. The projects have been questioned for overstating their climate benefits.
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More rigorous rules approved
On Friday, ICVCM also approved Verra’s new method and two other rulebooks proposed by Gold Standard for developing cookstove activities on the condition that projects also comply with stricter technical criteria to assess emission reductions and reduce the risk of generating too many offsets.
Carbon credits produced under the approved methodologies accounted for less than 3% of available cookstove offsets at the end of 2024. It is not yet clear how many of those credits respect the additional requirements imposed by ICVCM.
A spokesperson for Gold Standard said “further assessment” will be required to ensure compliance, adding that more specific guidelines for projects seeking CCP-labelling will be made available soon.
Additionally, ICVCM still needs to rule on the eligibility of over 28 million cookstove credits – 33% of the total – issued under older versions of a Gold Standard methodology.
Annette Nazareth, ICVCM chair, said “we understand many existing projects will choose to use the new methodologies and conditions we have approved today”.
Verra will require developers to update their current projects to the new methodology approved by ICVCM by 2027, a spokesperson said, adding that the body’s decision represents “an important shift towards higher integrity in the market”.
“We recognise the importance of this type of project for unlocking climate finance and enabling sustainable development as well as the positive impact of cookstoves at the household level,” added ICVCM’s Nazareth.
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A faltering market
Carbon markets have long been touted as key for funding programmes that help communities in the Global South shift towards cleaner and healthier way of cooking. Over 2 billion people worldwide – half of whom are in Africa – lack access to clean cooking methods,