The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved two carbon-crediting methodologies by Verra and Equitable Earth, covering the early retirement of coal-fired power plants and the restoration of degraded forests, respectively.

The council said Tuesday that Verra’s VM0052 Accelerated Retirement of Coal-Fired Power Plants Using a Just Transition v1.1 and Equitable Earth’s M001 Methodology for Terrestrial Forest Restoration v1.3 methodologies had satisfied the relevant requirements of its Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) assessment framework.

Since March 2024, a total 13 carbon-crediting programs and 47 methodologies have been approved as eligible under the CCP framework. An estimated 120.7 million credits have been cleared to use the CCP label.

Verra’s methodology applies to financially viable, grid-connected coal-fired power plants that retire ahead of schedule, with renewable electricity added to replace some or all of their lost generating capacity. It is designed to quantify the net greenhouse-gas reductions resulting from those projects.

The methodology includes provisions addressing the social and economic consequences of shutting plants early. Projects must plan for impacts on employees, contractors, households and surrounding communities, including potential job and livelihood losses.

Changes made during the assessment process also require projects to address conflicts of interest between system operators and developers, demonstrate that grid reliability will not be harmed and meet milestones for replacing retired generation with renewable electricity. Credit issuance can be paused if those milestones are missed.

Verra separately described VM0052 as the first energy-transition method to receive the council’s approval.

Relevant: Verra Delays New Carbon Credit Standard To July 2027 After Industry Pushback

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