Co-Chairs GCMU, Sylvera, RMI and S&P Global Commodity Insights invite experts to advance transparency in carbon markets and collaborate on Carbon Data Open Protocol

Lack of Standardization Fragments Market & Impedes Markets’ Potential as Driver of Climate Action

LONDON, NEW YORK, SINGAPORE (March 18, 2025) – A group of 30 leading businesses, nonprofits and public sector organizations have joined forces to help facilitate and scale carbon markets by launching an open, multi-stakeholder initiative to develop a protocol that harmonizes the definitions and rules that standardize data describing carbon crediting projects and carbon credits across markets, geographies and activity types.    

This co-hosted event at New York Climate Week showed what it takes to harness the power of markets and deliver real impact, today. It was convened by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), the Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Wall Street Journal – Voluntary carbon markets are getting the backing of some of the world’s leading economists, policymakers and philanthropists, as businesses search for ways to meet their climate goals and move funds to developing countries.

Politico – Climate Week is holding its first ever “VCM Day” on Wednesday, sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies and featuring Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and U.N. Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen along with other corporate and government officials.

TIME – The voluntary carbon market can play a critical role. It can provide finance for a wide range of emissions reduction and removal projects in the places that need it most, and a way for businesses to be more ambitious, and go beyond their all important decarbonization efforts.

Today, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), the Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) announced they will be co-hosting Accelerating Climate Action: Delivering High-Integrity Carbon Markets, an event on September 25 in New York during Climate Week focused on showcasing the reforms and actions necessary to increase the impact of voluntary carbon markets.

The Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), a public utility designed to provide the necessary infrastructure for a trustworthy carbon market, today joined others to applaud the United States Government's release of new principles endorsing the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as a crucial mechanism for accelerating global decarbonization.

The explosive growth of carbon markets hasn’t been free of controversy, from corresponding adjustments and quality concerns and jurisdictional challenges. In the panel session held at Bloomberg Green in COP 27, the future of carbon markets was discussed.