International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance
Encyclopedia
The International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance is a non-profit
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 membership organisation
Trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...

 which promotes best practice
Best practice
A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark...

 across the voluntary carbon market
Personal carbon trading
Personal carbon trading is a general term referring to a number of proposed emissions trading schemes under which emissions credits are allocated to adult individuals on a equal per capita basis, within national carbon budgets. Individuals then surrender these credits when buying fuel or electricity...

. ICROA’s membership consists of those established carbon reduction and offset
Carbon offset
A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere....

 providers based in the United States, European and Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...

 markets which commit to the ICROA Code of Best Practice.

ICROA was established in 2008 to provide self-regulation
Self-regulation
The term self-regulation can signify:*Autoregulation*Homeostasis, in systems theory*Self-control, in sociology / psychology*Self-regulated learning, in educational psychology*Self-regulation theory , a system of conscious personal health management...

 of the voluntary carbon market. Members produce an annual report demonstrating compliance with the ICROA Code. The ICROA Code promotes a combined ‘reduce and offset’ approach to carbon management and has specific requirements for how members provide their carbon footprinting, Greenhouse Gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

 (GHG) reduction advice and offsetting services. ICROA aims that member’s compliance with their Code will bring credibility to the voluntary carbon market.

History

ICROA was launched by eight carbon reduction and offset providers on June 9, 2008. Along with the initial eight, ICROA has been open to new members which meet its membership criteria, and this was reflected in their early announcement that they intended to increase fourfold over the following twelve months. Nevertheless, the co-chairman of the organization, Jonathan Shopley, stated in 2008 that most offset providers would not be qualified to join.

With ICROA headquartered in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, the eight founding members consisted of five British firms (Carbon Clear, The CarbonNeutral Company, ClimateCare, co2balance and Targetneutral), two from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (Native Energy and TerraPass
TerraPass
TerraPass is a social enterprise that provides carbon offsetting products to individuals and businesses. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, TerraPass uses proceeds from member purchases to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects such as wind farms and methane digesters...

), and one from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 (Climate Friendly). Current membership is eleven companies worldwide.

The ICROA Code of Best Practice

The ICROA Code is available in full on the ICROA website. The key points are:
  1. Members will help their customers to measure their carbon footprint
    Carbon footprint
    A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...

     according to accepted international standards, and will set their emissions reduction targets based on scientific assessments.
  2. The ICROA Code explicitly recognizes that offsetting alone is not a sound approach to carbon management, therefore members should support a ‘reduce and offset’ approach to carbon management.
  3. Offsetting projects must meet the following criteria: real, permanent, independently verified, unique and additional. So far ICROA accepts the following standards: Clean Development Mechanism/Joint Implementation, Climate Action Reserve, Gold Standard, Voluntary Carbon Standard. ICROA may also use offsets from approved Government schemes. This is on the proviso that the Government scheme certified offsets will only be used within the context of the Government scheme and will not be not be sold as voluntary offsets outside the context of the scheme, unless these methodologies have been separately approved by ICROA. Schemes that have approved for use so far by ICROA members are: US EPA
    United States Environmental Protection Agency
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

     Climate Leaders.
  4. ICROA members must follow the ICROA Code, and produce an annual report demonstrating their compliance.

Criticism

In February 2009, ICROA criticised the UK Government quality assurance scheme for carbon offsets as it did not include voluntary emissions cuts (VERS). In a statement a spokesman said, "Unfortunately, it still fails to recognise VERs and we feel very strongly there's no reason for this." In turn ICROA was criticised by Dr Bruce Elliott, managing director of carbon offset company Clear
Clear (UK company)
Clear is a UK-based carbon offsetting company, founded in 2007 by Dr Bruce Elliott, Neil Chapman and Ben Hedley.-UK Government's Quality Assurance Scheme:...

which had achieved accreditation under the government scheme. Elliot stated that, "The trade body which represents offset organisations who sell VERs, ICROA, have unsurprisingly been vociferous in their criticism of the scheme. Many of its members have substantial investments in VER projects which now face an uncertain future without the government’s backing. This financial conflict of interest is readily apparent in their persistent public criticism of a scheme which matches or sets higher standards than its own code of conduct for the majority of criteria."
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