VCMI Claims Code of Practice
While the ICVCM focuses on the supply side of the voluntary carbon market - defining what makes a high-quality credit - the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) addresses the demand side: how companies should use carbon credits in a credible and transparent way. The VCMI Claims Code of Practice, first published in provisional form in 2022 and updated through version 3.0 in 2025, provides the most widely referenced framework for corporate carbon claims.
The Problem the Claims Code Addresses
Before the Claims Code, companies were making widely varying and often contradictory claims about their use of carbon credits. Some claimed to be "carbon neutral" after purchasing credits to cover their full footprint. Others claimed to have "offset" specific products or operations. Many did not disclose what types of credits they were purchasing, whether the credits were retired on their behalf, or how the credit purchases related to their broader decarbonisation strategy. This inconsistency created fertile ground for greenwashing accusations and eroded public trust in corporate climate commitments.
The Claims Code establishes a common language and set of requirements for what a company must do before it can make any VCMI-recognised claim about its use of carbon credits.
Foundational Criteria: The Prerequisites
Before a company can make any VCMI Carbon Integrity Claim, it must satisfy a set of Foundational Criteria. As updated in the 2025 revision, these include:
- Foundational Criterion 1: Report scope 1, 2, and scope 3 GHG emissions consistent with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol or equivalent national methodologies. This requires comprehensive emissions disclosure, not just the easy-to-measure categories.
- Foundational Criterion 2: Set near-term emission reduction targets consistent with reaching net zero by no later than 2050. The 2025 revision removed the requirement for a public commitment to long-term targets, recognising this as a barrier for companies focused on near-term action, while retaining the requirement for near-term targets to be net-zero aligned.
- Foundational Criterion 3: Make the required near-term emission reductions in line with the emission reduction pathway. Progress must be demonstrated, not merely planned.
- Foundational Criterion 4: Purchase high-quality carbon credits from outside the company's value chain, representing emissions reductions and removals, and retire them.
Credit Quality Requirements
VCMI requires that credits used for Claims be high quality. The Claims Code specifies that credits should be CCP-approved under the ICVCM framework or from a program assessed as CCP-Eligible, pending full category-level assessment. This creates an important link between the supply-side quality standard (ICVCM CCPs) and the demand-side claims framework (VCMI). Buying low-quality credits cannot satisfy the VCMI Foundational Criteria even if the quantity purchased is large.
The Three Carbon Integrity Claim Tiers
Once a company satisfies the Foundational Criteria, it can make one of three tiered Carbon Integrity Claims. The tiers are distinguished by the volume of carbon credits purchased relative to the company's residual emissions.
| Claim Tier | Credit Purchase Requirement | What It Signals |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | Credits equivalent to at least 20% of scope 1+2 residual emissions | Beginning engagement with high-quality credits |
| Gold | Credits equivalent to at least 60% of scope 1+2 residual emissions | Meaningful contribution above and beyond own reductions |
| Platinum | Credits equivalent to 100% or more of scope 1+2+3 residual emissions | Going beyond own footprint in supporting global net zero |
A critical point: the credit purchase is in addition to the company meeting its science-aligned emission reduction targets. A company that buys credits but has not made meaningful progress on reducing its own emissions cannot make a VCMI Claim. The credits are framed as a contribution to global climate action above and beyond the company's own decarbonisation pathway, not a substitute for it.
"Contribution" Framing vs Offset Framing
One of the most important conceptual distinctions in the Claims Code is the shift away from offsetting language toward contribution language. The Claims Code explicitly states that credits used under the framework do not "compensate for" or "neutralise" the company's emissions in a physical sense. Instead, they represent the company's contribution to global emissions reductions and removals beyond its own value chain.
This distinction matters significantly for how companies communicate. Under the Claims Code, a company making a Gold Claim cannot say: "We have offset 60% of our emissions." It should say something like: "We have purchased and retired high-quality carbon credits equivalent to 60% of our remaining emissions as part of our contribution to the global net zero transition."
Analogy: The Charity Donation Parallel
The contribution framing is analogous to charitable donations. When a company donates to a children's hospital, it does not claim to have "neutralised" childhood illness. It claims to have contributed resources toward solving a shared social problem. The VCMI framework asks companies to adopt a similar mindset toward carbon: purchasing credits is contributing to the global climate effort, not purchasing personal absolution from one's own emissions.
Reporting and Assurance Requirements
Companies making VCMI Claims must report publicly on their claims and the underlying data through the VCMI's dedicated reporting platform. The Monitoring, Reporting and Assurance (MRA) Framework, published alongside the Claims Code, sets out specific disclosure requirements including:
- Total scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for the reporting year
- Near-term emission reduction targets and progress against them
- Volume, vintage, project type, and registry of credits purchased and retired
- The specific Carbon Integrity Claim tier being made
- Assurance: an independent third-party assurance opinion on the claim and its supporting data
The assurance requirement is significant. It means a company cannot self-certify a VCMI Claim - an independent auditor must review the emissions data, the credit purchase and retirement records, and confirm that the Foundational Criteria are satisfied.
The Claims Dashboard
VCMI maintains a publicly accessible Claims Dashboard where all verified VCMI Claims are listed. This transparency mechanism allows stakeholders - investors, regulators, NGOs, and the public - to verify claims independently and compare companies' levels of climate action. As of early 2025, a growing number of multinational companies across sectors including technology, consumer goods, financial services, and industrials had registered claims on the dashboard.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and VCMI have developed complementary but distinct frameworks. SBTi focuses on setting and validating companies' scope 1, 2, and 3 emission reduction targets - it tells companies how fast they need to reduce emissions. VCMI's Claims Code focuses on how companies can credibly use carbon credits beyond their SBTi-aligned reduction pathway. The two frameworks are designed to work in sequence: first, set and pursue science-based targets; then, use the VCMI Claims Code to make credible claims about additional credit purchases. VCMI's Foundational Criteria explicitly require near-term targets consistent with net zero by 2050, which aligns with the SBTi framework's requirements, though VCMI also accepts targets set through other credible science-aligned frameworks.
Key Takeaways
- 1The VCMI Claims Code addresses the demand side of the voluntary carbon market, providing requirements for how companies can make credible claims about their use of carbon credits
- 2Foundational Criteria must be satisfied before any claim can be made, including scope 1-3 reporting, science-aligned emission reduction targets, and demonstrated progress on reductions
- 3The three tiers (Silver, Gold, Platinum) recognise increasing levels of contribution; Platinum requires credits equivalent to 100% or more of all scope 1, 2, and 3 residual emissions
- 4The Claims Code uses contribution language rather than offset language: credits represent a company's contribution to global net zero, not a physical compensation for its own emissions
- 5Third-party assurance of VCMI Claims is required; companies cannot self-certify, and all verified claims are publicly listed on the VCMI Claims Dashboard