Energy Transition, Emissions, Carbon
May 05, 2025
Platts to update VCM assessment standard, volume specifications
Platts, part of S&P Commodity Insights, will update several aspects of its Voluntary Carbon Market assessment specifications, with effect from June 2, 2025.
These changes reflect the evolution of the voluntary carbon markets, including greater recognition of new standards, as appropriate for different credit/project types; and changes in typical spot market volumes.
The decision to update the volume and standard specifications of its existing voluntary carbon credit assessments follows a proposal and feedback period that ended May 4, 2025, details of which can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/pricing-benchmarks/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/040425-platts-proposes-to-update-vcm-assessment-standard-volume-specifications(opens in a new tab).
Platts will update its specifications as follows:
| Assessment | Symbol | Current volume specification | New volume specification (effective June 2) |
| Blue Carbon Current Year | AJLUB00 | 5,000-50,000 mtCO2e | 1,000 mt – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Blue Carbon Yr01 | AKLUB00 | 5,000-50,000 mtCO2e | 1,000 mt – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Current Year | ANBAA00 | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Yr01 | ANBAB00 | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 1 Spread | APNBE00 | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 2 Spread | APNBD00 | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 3 Spread | APNBC00 | 20,000-100 ,000 m tCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 4 Spread | APNBB00 | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 5 Spread | APNBA00 | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e | 5,000 – 50,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Renewable Energy Current Year | CNRED00 | 50,000-150,000 mtCO2e | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Renewable Energy Yr01 | CNRED10 | 50,000-150,0 00 mtCO2e | 20,000-100,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Tech Carbon Capture Current Year | ATCCA00 | 5,000-50,000 mtCO2e | 500 mt - 5 ,000 mtCO2e |
| Platts Tech Carbon Capture Yr01 | ATCCB00 | 5,000-50,000 mtCO2e | 500 mt - 5 ,000 mtCO2e |
Platts originally proposed to change the maximum volume for the Platts Tech Carbon Capture assessments to 30,000 mtCO2e, but will now reflect a maximum 5,000 mtCO2e, in light of market feedback.
These changes also affect the currency conversions for each assessment as well as all associated monthly averages.
Standards
At present, Platts Voluntary Carbon Credit assessments reflect projects certified by Gold Standard (GS), Climate Action Reserve (CAR), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), the American Carbon Registry, and Puro Earth. From June 2, Platts will take a more tailored approach, with specific standards considered for some of its individual assessments, to better reflect the market.
Platts will update its specifications as follows:
| Assessment | Symbol | New standard specification (effective June 2) |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Current Year | ANBAA00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Yr01 | ANBAB00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 1 Spread | APNBE00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 2 Spread | APNBD00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 3 Spread | APNBC00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 4 Spread | APNBB00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Nature-Based Avoidance Vintage Current Year - 5 Spread | APNBA00 | VCS, Biocarbon, Cercarbono |
| Platts Renewable Energy Current Year | CNRED00 | GS, VCS, GCC |
| Platts Renewable Energy Yr01 | CNRED10 | GS, VCS, GCC |
In addition to the above, Platts received additional feedback on the need to further define the specifications of its Tech Carbon Capture assessments. Given this, Platts will make the following additional specification changes to define the relevant standards for this segment:
Platts Tech Carbon Capture Current Year | ATCCA00 | Puro.Earth , Isometric, CSI |
| Platts Tech Carbon Capture Yr01 | ATCCB00 | Puro.Earth , Isometric, CSI |
These updates include the currency conversions for each assessment as well as all associated monthly averages.
Platts Voluntary Carbon Credits assessments reflect the most competitive, most internationally fungible credits meeting Platts specifications. Platts considers bids, offers and transactions for credits that differ from the reference base, but may normalize these to the value of the reference base for assessment purposes.
In addition, Platts will rename some of its Voluntary Carbon Credit assessments, effective June 2, 2025. This decision affects several of the assessments outlined above, details of which are available here(opens in a new tab).
The assessments appear in Carbon Markets Daily, and on the fixed pages CMA2001, ETA2001, CMA2002, ETA2002, CMA2003, ETA2003, CMA2004, ETA2004, CMA2005, ETA2005, CMA2006, ETA2006, CMA2007, ETA2007, CMA2008, ETA2008, CMA2009, ETA2009, CMA2011, ETA2011.
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