The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market recently announced that the ACR Afforestation & Reforestation of Degraded Lands methodology meets its high-integrity Core Carbon Principles (CCPs), provided certain conditions are met. This is the second Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) methodology to be CCP-Approved.
Approval of Afforestation & Reforestation of Degraded Lands methodology
Forests are one of the world’s most important natural carbon sinks, but they continue to be destroyed by human and natural causes, with analysis by the World Resources Institute finding that 515 million hectares of tree cover was lost between 2001-2024 (34% of which is likely permanent). The aim of ARR projects is the restoration of degraded lands through the establishment of tree cover and woody vegetation.
The Integrity Council’s conditional approval of the ACR ARR methodology is limited to natural forest establishment and restoration, because the assessment determined that the methodology meets the relevant additionality requirements only when applied for these types of projects. This conditional approval covers versions 1-1.2 of the ACR ARR methodology. Additionality assessments ensure that methodologies deliver real, additional emissions reductions or removals that only take place due to the incentive of carbon revenues.
Approximately 7.8 million credits have been issued under the ACR Afforestation and Reforestation of Degraded Lands methodology – which can be CCP-labelled, subject to the conditions being met.
Annette Nazareth, Chair of the Integrity Council, said: “Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation methodologies offer a critical pathway to support the growth and restoration of forests and accelerate action on removing carbon from the atmosphere to help meet climate goals. The approval of this methodology will support continued investment in high-integrity CCP-labelled carbon credits that finance projects with measurable, positive impacts for our climate.”
Five further ARR methodologies are currently under assessment by the Integrity Council and are expected to be concluded in the coming months.