ICROA Programme and Policy Framework 2009: contains ICROA Membership Remit and ICROA Code of Best Practice version 2009. (09.06.09)
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ICROA Policy Paper on the Use of CCB and SOCIALCARBON Standards (November 2009). Download PDF
ICROA Offset Standard Review Criteria (February 2009). Download PDF
ICROA Response to DECC Consultation on Carbon Neutrality (21.05.09). Download PDF
ICROA Letter to Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer (VROM) (12.03.09). Download PDF
ICROA Q&A on DECC Quality Assurance scheme (February 2009): Download PDF
ICROA Response to DCC National Carbon Offset Standard Discussion Paper (27.01.09). Download PDF
ICROA Response to DECC Consultation on Carbon Units (16.01.09).
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ICROA Response to the draft Defra Code of Best Practice (March 2008). Download PDF
ICROA Letter to Secretary of State for the Environment, the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP (08.05.08). Download PDF
ICROA Code of Best Practice 2009: Footnotes:
Footnote 2:
The ICROA Code of Best Practice is applicable to ICROA members' activities in the voluntary carbon market and does not apply to services provided by ICROA members, in the compliance carbon market, to entities covered by compliance or pre-compliance requirements
Definitions of the Voluntary and Compliance Carbon Markets
The carbon markets exist both under compliance schemes and as voluntary programs. Compliance markets are created and regulated by mandatory national, regional or international carbon reduction regimes. Voluntary carbon markets function outside of the compliance market. They enable businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals to offset their emissions by purchasing offsets that were created either through [the] CDM or in the voluntary market. (http://www.co2offsetresearch.org/ ) Voluntary market based reductions are above and beyond the limits set by compliance regimes.
The Compliance Carbon Market
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established a cap-and-trade system that imposes national caps on the greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries that have ratified the Protocol (called Annex B countries). Each participating country is assigned an emissions target and the corresponding number of allowances - called Assigned Amount Units, or AAUs. On average, this cap requires participating countries to reduce their emissions 5.2% below their 1990 baseline between 2008 and 2012. Countries must meet their targets within a designated period of time by:
- reducing their own emissions; and/or
- trading emissions allowances with countries that have a surplus of allowances; and/or
- meeting their targets by purchasing carbon credits.
This ensures that the overall costs of reducing emissions are kept as low as possible. To further increase cost-effectiveness of emissions reductions, the Kyoto Protocol also established so-called Flexible Mechanisms: the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI). (http://www.co2offsetresearch.org/policy/MandatoryVsVoluntary.html#JI)
The Voluntary Carbon Market
The voluntary carbon market functions as a complement to the compliance carbon market. It enables businesses, NGOs, and individuals to voluntarily offset their emissions by purchasing Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) and compliance market offsets. Actors in the voluntary carbon include entities not bound by compliance market requirements or entities who wish to make additional reduction commitments in the voluntary carbon market. High quality VER offset standards, such as those permitted by the ICROA Code of Best Practice, have been designed for the voluntary carbon market and are aligned to the needs of its users.
Footnote 3:
Approved Emission Factors:
Australia: DCC (Department of Climate Change), National GHG Accounts Factors: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/publications/greenhouse-acctg/national-greenhouse-factors.aspx
Germany: BMU (Federal Ministry for the Environment) http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/emissionen/publikationen.htm
Holland: VROM (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) Measuring and Reporting GHG: http://international.vrom.nl/pagina.html?id=37469
IPCC: (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Emission Factors Database: http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/EFDB/main.php
UK: DEFRA, (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) Current GHG conversion factors: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/reporting/conversion-factors.htm
US: EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Emission Factors and Policy Applications Center Measurement Policy Group: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/efpac/index.html
