Since its inception in 2008, ICROA has been a cornerstone of integrity in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), championing best practices and setting high standards at a time when no comparable programme existed. Built “by the market, for the market,” ICROA was founded by pioneering carbon credit professionals from the UK, US, and Australia to establish a clear Code of Best Practice, enabling transparent performance reporting for market participants. 

The Peatland Code made its submission to ICROA in 2024 and successfully completed the first stage of ICROA’s assessment process, meeting key requirements on governance, inpendepence, transparency, carbon crediting princples and registry. Unfortunately, ICROA’s decision to terminate all ongoing assessments means the Peatland Code will no longer be able to complete its endorsement despite all the resource that has been put into this process. To read about the work we carried out and the improvement we've carried out since 2024 read out summary below.

Garance Wood-Moulin, Peatland Code Development Lead said:

"Though this is indeed disspointing news there is reason for optimism. In the UK, the British Standards Institute (BSI) Nature Investment Standards Programme  supported by the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan will play a pivotal role in strengthening market confidence and ensuring integrity. The  Peatland Code is an early adopter of the BSI Flex 701 pilot. 

We are also encouraged to see that other international initiatives have now emerged in the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) such as The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) assessment framework which the Peatland Code remains committed to progressing their ICVCM, application to be CCP-eligibile. Read more about the Peatland Code's work toward ICVCM here.