Integrity Council for The Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM)

The carbon-crediting program shall have effective program governance to ensure transparency, accountability, continuous improvement and the overall quality of carbon credits. 

 

Developed and managed by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, the Peatland Code is one of only two UK government backed, voluntary carbon market standards. The Peatland Code has open and transparent Governance with the Executive Board facilitated by IUCN UK Peatland Programme (IUCN UK PP) staff and supported by a Technical Advisory Board (TAB) which includes a broad range of stakeholders: government, statutory agencies, the Woodland Carbon Code, the land managing community, and independent research bodies. In addition to the TAB, a separate Market and Investment Forum is in place. This forum acts as a platform for those who have a financial interest in the development and operation of the Peatland Code, and who are registered as an account holder on the UK Land Carbon Registry, to feedback on their user experience and interpretation of the standard. The Governance structure and feedback mechanisms is kept under review to ensure that all relevant parties are engaged in the operation and development of the Peatland Code. More detail is available on our governance page.

The carbon-crediting program shall operate or make use of a registry to uniquely identify, record and track mitigation activities and carbon credits issued to ensure credits can be identified securely and unambiguously. 

 

The UK Land Carbon Registry is the Peatland Code’s electronic database that stores and publicly displays data about the status of Projects and ownership and use of Carbon Units. Managed by IHS Markit now a part of S&P Global, it records transactions and provides a public and transparent picture of Peatland Code Carbon Units.  All Peatland Code Projects and Carbon Units must be recorded on the Peatland Code Registry. 

The carbon-crediting program shall provide comprehensive and transparent information on all credited mitigation activities. The information shall be publicly available in electronic format and shall be accessible to non-specialised audiences, to enable scrutiny of mitigation activities. 

 

The Peatland Code and its development went through a steering group, involving academics employed by the UK government to advise on greenhouse gas values, as well as experts in managing other nature-based standards, carbon brokers and land managers. The latest version 2.1 of the Peatland Code and all the documentation including emission and additionality calculators are available to download from our website.  

The carbon-crediting program shall have program-level requirements for robust independent third-party validation and verification of mitigation activities. 

 

To provide assurance to buyers, Peatland Code projects and their GHG assertion are validated and verified by a third-party independent validation/verification body to a limited or reasonable level of assurance. ISO 14064-3 and 14065 shall be used as the governing standard for Peatland Code validation and verification delivery. We currently have three independent validators and verifiers approved for the Peatland Code.  

The GHG emission reductions or removals from the mitigation activity shall be robustly quantified, based on conservative approaches, completeness and sound scientific methods. 

 

The Peatland Code is science driven and the emission factors used to determine the emissions reductions achieved by Peatland Code projects are developed by academics employed by the UK Government and aligned as much as possible with the UK GHG inventory. As the availability and scientific confidence of data increases for peatlands these emission factors will be updated and the eligibility for inclusion in the Peatland Code of different condition categories will be reviewed. By working closely with UK government, we keep up to date with the latest developments, which allows us to identify when a review is required. 

The GHG emission reductions or removals from the mitigation activity shall not be double counted, i.e., they shall only be counted once towards achieving mitigation targets or goals. Double counting covers double issuance, double claiming, and double use. 

 

Projects and carbon units shall only appear on one carbon registry – The UK Land Carbon Registry. All projects, project documentation, carbon units, assignments and retirements shall be visible in the ‘public view’ of the UK Land Carbon Registry. Upon project or restoration validation Pending Issuance Units (PIUs) shall be listed for all carbon units in the project. Any PIUs sold in advance of verification shall either be transferred to the relevant buyer’s account or ‘assigned’ to that buyer. At each verification PIUs for that vintage shall be cancelled and the verified number of Peatland Carbon Units (PCUs) issued. Prior to using Peatland Carbon Units in any reports, they shall be ‘retired’ from the UK Land Carbon Registry. 

 

The carbon-crediting program shall have clear guidance, tools and compliance procedures to ensure mitigation activities conform with or go beyond widely established industry best practices on social and environmental safeguards while delivering positive sustainable development impacts. 

 

In the version 2 and version 2.1 of the Peatland Code, we have asked for greater community and stakeholder consultation: project developers must proactively engage at an early stage with local communities, neighbouring properties and any other important but potentially marginalised groups. 

 

Peatland Code Projects not only deliver emission reductions but also have lots of wider environmental benefit which are bundled within Peatland Code Units.