Achieving High-Integrity Voluntary Climate Action

Project Information

ACHIEVE

Grant agreement ID: 101137625

DOI

10.3030/101137625

EC signature date 20 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2027

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 5 449 736,25

EU contribution

€ 5 449 736,25

Coordinated by

STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEIT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ACHIEVE (Achieving High-Integrity Voluntary Climate Action)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In recent years an unprecedented number of voluntary climate commitments have been made by a wide array of non-state and subnational actors. These voluntary climate actions aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience, and they are crucial for lowering risks of exceeding warming limits. However, the full potential of voluntary climate action can only be realized when integrity-related concerns are overcome. ACHIEVE aims to identify opportunities to strengthen and scale up high-integrity voluntary climate action towards achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century. The project generates transformative and timely scientific insights on the role, effectiveness and integrity of voluntary climate action including carbon credits; assess the integrity and impacts of such action; analyse how policies and regulations, and high-integrity voluntary climate action can strengthen each other; and use scientific findings to support the scaling up of high-integrity voluntary action. This is being achieved through a highly inter- and transdisciplinary consortium that, from the start, actively engages policymakers and other societal stakeholders in co-creating outcomes that respond to end users’ needs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ACHIEVE has made strong progress across all work packages. The project has delivered key analytical tools and frameworks to support the development and assessment of high-integrity voluntary climate action (VCA).
- Mapping of 267 cooperative climate initiatives (CCIs) and 43 carbon market-related initiatives, highlighting trends in governance, participation, and integrity,
- Development of draft integrity framework around four core principles—justice and equity, accountability, low-carbon and resilient transformation, and environmental protection—and testing through workshops and stakeholder feedback,
- Assessment of integrity and effectiveness of existing voluntary initiatives, incl. ten major corporate climate action rating providers, revealing substantial differences in coverage and transparency and raising questions about comparability and credibility,
- Development of model for future evaluation of carbon credit quality,
- Assessment of new methodology for avoided deforestation under the Verified Carbon Standard,
- Analysis of climate strategies of large agri-food companies,
- Analysis of impact of city-level participation in global climate networks,
- Assessment of integrity of using carbon credits by companies and cities,
- Co-development of the Oxford Principles for Responsible Engagement with Article 6,
- Setting up mapping interaction between voluntary initiatives and regulatory frameworks at national and EU levels,
- Assessment of two (out of six planned) case studies on climate action integrity by major European cities, incl. online workshop with city practitioners to discuss citizen participation in climate action,
- Setting up transition scenarios for non-state actors, using integrity indicators and method development to better integrate non-state actors into climate scenario models,
- Development and launch of ACHIEVE stakeholder platform to support ongoing engagement and knowledge exchange,
- Extensive scientific and non-scientific communication and collaboration with other projects, producing a range of accessible outputs, including info clips, a public beta version of the C-CID database, the project website and many social media posts to raise awareness about, and engagement with, project activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ACHIEVE has gone beyond the state of the art by responding to a rapidly evolving voluntary climate action landscape. The project’s work during the first reporting period reflects not only scientific and methodological advances but also an ability to adapt to key policy developments, as illustrated with key examples next.
ACHIEVE has addressed emerging questions of credibility, transparency, and policy relevance. For example, in response to discussions around Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the consortium contributed to the development of the Oxford Principles for Responsible Engagement, providing guidance on the responsible use of international carbon credits and contributing to the operationalisation of Article 6. Similarly, project insights on the environmental integrity of carbon credits are feeding into work conducted by consortium members for the European Commission on potential delegated acts under the Green Claims Directive.
ACHIEVE also breaks new ground by providing comprehensive empirical insights into the scope, scale, and performance of voluntary climate initiatives. Its updated mapping of 267 cooperative initiatives and 43 carbon credit-related initiatives is the most extensive to date. This work is publicly available via the beta version of the C-CID database, supporting transparency and enabling external use.
Methodological contributions include the creation of the CENVI database to assess environmental integrity risks across different carbon credit types; comparative tools to evaluate how ten leading corporate climate action rating providers differ in coverage, depth, and transparency; an approach that combines social network and regression analyses to assess how cooperative climate initiatives relate to each other; and comprehensive approach to assess corporate and city climate action plans for purchasing carbon credits. These tools help make sense of a fragmented landscape and support better decision-making by policymakers and investors. ACHIEVE is also pioneering efforts to incorporate non-state and subnational climate actions into integrated assessment models. This helps align voluntary action with global climate scenarios and enables a more realistic understanding of actors' potential contributions to climate goals.

ACHIEVE Logo

ACHIEVE Figure