South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that nine countries, including South Korea, signed a joint statement of intent to develop the Global Verified Carbon Market (GVCM) at the United Nations climate conference in Antalya, Turkey. The initiative combines plans for common carbon credit issuance standards and infrastructure with a separate cooperation agreement to support credit quality.
The planned market would allow companies to use shared standards and procedures to undertake emissions reduction projects in developing countries and generate credits for international trading. Participating countries would help determine the issuing body's operating direction and major decisions through its board and other governance arrangements. The ministry and participating countries plan to develop governance arrangements, operating systems and detailed implementation plans in 2027. The ministry also aims to complete establishment of the credit issuing body during that year.
Under a separate memorandum of understanding, the ministry, the Global Green Growth Institute and the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market will cooperate on knowledge sharing and training for participating countries. This work will cover the council's Core Carbon Principles, its 10 principles for assessing carbon credit quality and integrity. The cooperation brings together the institute's experience supporting emissions reduction projects in developing countries and the council's expertise in credit quality.