- Cercarbono has been approved as CCP-Eligible by the ICVCM, meeting its Core Carbon Principles for effective governance, tracking, transparency and independent third-party verification. The Core Carbon Principles are one of the leading independent integrity benchmarks for the carbon credit market.
- Cercarbono is the largest crediting programme headquartered in Latin America to be approved as CCP-Eligible, with over 200 registered projects across more than 25 countries and around 130 million credits issued to date, representing approximately 7% of the global voluntary carbon market.
- Cercarbono credits are already accepted under compliance mechanisms in Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, with further government discussions underway across the region.
- Cercarbono will now submit five methodologies, spanning nature-based and technology-based approaches, for CCP assessment, widening the high-integrity routes for carbon finance.
Bogotá, Colombia, 4 August 2026. Cercarbono, a global carbon, circular economy and biodiversity certification programme headquartered in Colombia, has been approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) as a Core Carbon Principles (CCP)-Eligible programme. The CCP framework sets ten science-based principles for identifying high-quality carbon credits that create real, verifiable climate impact, and is one of the carbon credit market’s leading independent integrity benchmarks. To become CCP-Eligible, Cercarbono demonstrated effective governance, robust tracking, transparency and independent third-party verification, meeting the CCPs’ governance principles through independent assessment.
Cercarbono joins other programmes globally to have been approved, pointing to a maturing market for high-integrity carbon credits. Buyers now have more trusted routes to direct finance to nature projects.
Developed in Colombia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Cercarbono is shaped by the ecosystems, policy environments and communities central to halting and reversing deforestation. Cercarbono widens access to carbon markets for those whose access has historically been limited, and enables finance to be channelled to the countries that need it most.
Alex Saer, CEO of Cercarbono, said: “CCP-Eligibility reflects years of work to strengthen our governance, transparency and verification systems in line with the ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principles, but it is what it unlocks that matters most. It is a lever for more nature-based and technology-based projects to access stronger carbon finance, and for the communities and ecosystems behind them to benefit directly. We will continue working with the ICVCM to widen high-integrity routes to market for projects around the world.”
The approval comes as governments increasingly draw on independent integrity benchmarks when setting carbon market rules. Cercarbono credits are already accepted under Colombia’s carbon tax mechanism, Mexico’s Querétaro and Colima compliance systems, Chile’s compensation system, and national carbon mechanisms in Ecuador and Peru.
Cercarbono is actively working with governments across the region to secure recognition within further national and subnational compliance systems, reflecting its ambition to be recognised as a trusted carbon standard well beyond its home market of Colombia.
“We welcome the significant work undertaken by Cercarbono to strengthen its governance, transparency and operational requirements through the assessment process. We applaud Cercarbono’s commitment to the Core Carbon Principles and welcome it as a CCP-Eligible program.” – Annette Nazareth, Chair of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market.
CCP-Eligibility is the first of two steps under the ICVCM framework. Having met the CCPs’ governance principles as a programme, Cercarbono’s methodologies must now be independently assessed against the full set of Core Carbon Principles, including additionality, permanence, robust quantification, no double counting, and sustainable development benefits and safeguards, before credits can carry the CCP label.
Cercarbono will now submit five methodologies to ICVCM’s category assessment process: CM-LU-CW-001, Blue Carbon Methodology for Mitigation of Climate Change in Coastal Wetlands, Version 1.1; CM-LU-002, Integrated Methodology for Reforestation, Forest Restoration, Revegetation and Establishment of Woody Agricultural Crops, Version 3.1; Cercarbono’s M/LU-REDD+ Methodology, Version 3.1, developed consistently with international agreements under the UNFCCC; Methodology CM-WM-ELV-01 Recovery and Recycling of Materials from End-of-Life Vehicles , Version 1.4 and Methodology M/MLF-DE_RE01 For Projects for the Destruction and Utilisation of Biogas from Landfill Sites, Version 2.1.
Only a small number of methodologies have so far been approved for CCP labels, and Cercarbono’s submissions, spanning nature-based and technology-based approaches, would meaningfully expand the pool of CCP-Approved routes for high-integrity carbon finance. This progress reflects the sustained effort behind Cercarbono’s work: a standard that keeps raising its own bar, one stage at a time, on its path to becoming a globally recognised, high-integrity certification programme.
