🔄ICR Program Advisory Panel 3.0
Summary
ICR serves as a framework for climate projects of any size where environmental integrity is promoted with credibility, consistency, and transparency of quantification, monitoring, reporting, validation, and verification
Version no. | 3.0 |
Date of Version | 15. February 2024 |
Introduction
The International Carbon Registry (ICR) is a voluntary climate action initiative promoting effectiveness in climate financing while safeguarding environmental integrity. ICR sets out requirements for climate action projects and delivers a platform for the registration and issuance of tradable carbon credits, allowing organizations to offset or directly list carbon credits for sale on an exchange in a transparent and publicly accessible manner.
The purpose of this document is to structure how technical input from the ICR Program Advisory Panel (PAP) members is captured and delivered to the ICR Board, specify what task to provide, govern the structure of work, and set competence criteria for members of the PAP.
Figure 1: Organizational chart
ICR Program Advisory Panel
The PAP is a group of carefully selected and highly competent technical experts on climate solutions and carbon markets. Members provide advisory to the ICR for its operations to ensure maintaining and operating a transparent and trustworthy GHG program that is effective and efficient for all users and interested parties.
The PAP functions are to provide the ICR with guidance and recommendations through advising on the strategic direction and development of the ICR program. The roles of the PAP are:
Provide advice on enhancements and strategic direction of the ICR and its procedures.
Review processes related to the registration of climate projects and issuance of carbon credits.
Review and provide advice to draft documentation relating to establishing, revising, or withdrawing requirements, guidelines, and clarifications for climate projects to register and issue carbon credits.
Provide advice and recommendations to ICR regarding need and priority areas for revisions and amendments to requirements, operational guidelines, procedures, etc., for the operation of the ICR program.
Considering input and minutes of meetings of any ICR program forums.
Provide insight into the needs of stakeholders.
Attributes of members of the PAP
The PAP consists of 3 – 5 technical experts, referred to as members. Members shall possess strong knowledge about the ISO 14060 family of standards, and GHG program procedures, including the development of projects, application and development of methodologies, modules, and tools, and the responsibilities of validation/verification bodies. They shall be familiar with trends in carbon market dynamics, e.g., policies, organizational demand, and the market mechanism. Members can be project proponents, developers, interested parties, organizations, or auditors but shall maintain impartiality in all their advisory to the ICR. All members shall sign an impartiality statement.
Procedures of the PAP
PAP operates under the guidance of the ICR board. CEO and the ICR program management unit operate further under the guidance of the ICR board regarding activities under the ICR board’s responsibility.
Membership to the PAP is open for application, and members are selected from a roster of applications or by recommendation by the ICR Leadership. The ICR board is responsible for selecting members of the PAP and shall promote gender and regional balance. The ICR board shall appoint members with a due account based on recommendations from ICR Leadership. Members of the PAP shall adhere to the confidentiality and impartiality policy and sign an impartiality statement. Membership application for PAP is published on ICR’s website.
The appointment of PAP members occurs every two years, and the term is two years. The term can be extended if consensus on extension is met within the PAP and the ICR board.
The CSO assesses issues for review by the PAP and ensures that members are provided with documentation promptly for consideration. The PAP may nominate sectoral experts for whom the ICR leadership shall establish and maintain a roster. The sectoral experts may be invited to assess specific issues that may be disclosed to the PAP.
All PAP meetings are held electronically, which the CEO arranges with a minimum of 2 weeks’ notice in consultation with members. If members cannot attend a meeting, they may nominate a representative to participate in their absence, subject to approval from other members.
Members may be required to spend up to two hours preparing for conference calls, including, inter alia, reviewing proposed revisions and amendments to the ICR program and 2-3 hours attending each meeting.
ICR CEO is responsible for organizing and facilitating meetings and preparing and disseminating agendas and minutes. CSO is responsible for developing any draft updates to the ICR program requirements, processes, and guidelines, recommendations from the PAP, minutes of meetings with any program forums, and managing for consideration and/or review by the PAP.
The CEO shall organize and host each PAP meeting. The meeting agenda shall include the following:
Revisions to the ICR program
Methodologies, modules, tools, and revisions approved
Strategic direction
Updates on markets
Other issues
All recommendations by the PAP shall be made publicly available unless the PAP and/or the ICR board decides otherwise, e.g., due to confidentiality.
Recommendations by the PAP shall be disclosed to the ICR board no less than two weeks before consideration by the ICR board, and the ICR board can make decisions regarding the respective advice.
All documentation and meetings of the PAP are to be conducted and documented in English.
Considering the demand of the respective work area, the ICR board may place the panel in abeyance at any time.
Before providing any review or advisory concerning revisions of documentation or a proposal for new methodologies or revisions, members shall inform ICR if they have a conflict of interest concerning any review.
Revisions to the ICR Program
The CSO shall prepare and provide all relevant documentation concerning the drafted amendments and proposed revisions of the ICR program to the PAP.
The PAP shall consider the proposal for conformity to the principles and consistency within carbon markets and prepare comments and recommendations to the ICR board. The PAP shall make every effort to conclude its consideration and finalize comments and recommendations as soon as practically possible.
Appendix – Document History
Version | Date | Comment |
1.0 | 20.2.2022 | First version. |
2.0 | 14.10.2022 | Alignment with revised ICR requirement document and ICR methodology requirements. |
3.0 | 15.2.2024 | Alignment with ICR QMS and new organizational chart. |
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