The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved Verra’s VM0049 Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) v1.0 methodology, as well as the four modules that complement it, in accordance with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs). These approvals open up a pathway for CCS projects to generate credits that can receive the CCP label.
The ICVCM has approved Verra’s VM0049 CCS v1.0 methodology and four related modules (covering DAC, transport, geological storage, and BECCS). Active since June 2024, this modular framework allows eligible global carbon capture projects to generate Core Carbon Principles (CCP)-labeled credits. To protect grid decarbonization, projects using renewable power must draw from new generation sources. Excluded from scope are CO2 utilization, enhanced weathering, biochar, and ocean storage.
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved Verra’s VM0049 Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) v1.0 methodology, as well as the four modules that complement it, in accordance with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs). These approvals open up a pathway for CCS projects to generate credits that can receive the CCP label.
This approval adds technology-based carbon capture to the growing portfolio of Verra's CCP-approved methodologies. VM0049 covers projects that capture and permanently store CO2, including activities that generate both GHG emission reductions and carbon dioxide removals (CDR). This includes capturing CO2 from industrial or other specific sources, as well as removing CO2 from the atmosphere or biogenic sources.
The methodology is applicable worldwide and focuses on projects involving geological carbon storage. It has been active since 27 June 2024, and was developed by the CCS+ Initiative, South Pole Carbon Asset Management, and Perspectives Climate Group, with Verra's support.
What Is the VM0049 Methodology?
VM0049 is a modular framework for measuring and quantifying emission reductions and carbon removals from CCS projects. Instead of requiring every project to comply with a single technical configuration, it establishes general requirements and uses separate modules for the various stages of the CCS process: capturing CO2, transporting it, and permanently storing it.
This structure enables developers to select and combine modules according to the design and technologies employed in a specific project. It can also support projects that develop over time, use shared infrastructure such as pipelines or storage sites, or incorporate new technologies as additional modules become available.
The four modules that have been approved alongside VM0049 are:
- VMD0056: Direct Air Capture (DAC)
- VMD0057: CO2 transport
- VMD0058: CO2 storage
- VMD0059: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) Together, these components cover several different approaches to carbon capture and permanent storage.
Therefore, the methodology is applicable to a range of CCS configurations. For instance, DAC projects can use it to quantify the removal of CO2 captured directly from the atmosphere, and BECCS projects can use it to account for the removal of biogenic CO2. The framework also establishes procedures for accounting for emissions associated with capture, transportation, and storage, enabling the overall climate impact of a project to be evaluated.
Applicability conditions
It is applicable only if the activity meets the specified eligibility conditions, which include (among other requirements) that project-related equipment doesn’t use refrigerants that are controlled substances under the Montreal Protocol or Kigali Amendment, and that equipment complies with the most conservative applicable regulations where it is installed.
Not applicable
The methodology is not applicable to activities such as:
- CO2 utilization (captured CO2 used as a feedstock for products/services; “carbon capture and utilization”)
- Storage routes like enhanced weathering, biochar production, or ocean alkalinity enhancement
- Activities that divert CO2 from other storage/utilization activities
- Activities that produce CO2 for the purpose of capturing it
- Activities that extract CO2 from a geologic formation to generate credits
- Projects that reduce energy-related emissions from an existing CCS activity (as described in the not-applicable list)
Importance to the Market
One important detail about VM0049 is how it looks at the electricity used by carbon capture projects.
When a project relies on renewable electricity, the methodology requires developers to demonstrate that it comes from new, specifically developed renewable generation sources, and not from existing ones. This requirement addresses concerns that energy-intensive carbon removal projects could use clean electricity that is already helping to decarbonize the wider power system.
Approval from the ICVCM means that credits generated under VM0049 and its approved modules can qualify for the CCP label, as long as the applicable requirements of the CCP Assessment Framework and other relevant conditions are met.
The decision also reflects the increasing focus on technology-based carbon removal and permanent storage. CCS projects are technically complex and require accurate accounting of emissions, capture rates, transport, storage conditions, and permanence. The idea behind the design of VM0049 is to provide a consistent framework while allowing projects to use different technologies and infrastructure arrangements.
The ICVCM approval places VM0049 and its DAC, transport, storage, and BECCS modules within the recognized CCP-approved methodology portfolio. This creates a framework for quantifying carbon reductions and removals from CCS activities.
Finally, as the carbon removal sector develops and more CCS technologies emerge, the methodology's modular design is intended to allow the framework to expand alongside these developments.