IETA is a non-profit business organisation, founded in 1999 to establish an international framework for greenhouse gas emission trading. Its membership, which includes leading international companies, seeks to develop a regime that provides real and verifiable emission reductions, while balancing economic efficiency with environmental integrity and social equity.

IETA’s mission includes being the trusted business voice on relevant issues, promoting carbon trading and pricing solutions, designing effective rules for market operation, plus providing up-to-date and credible information on the buying and selling of emissions.

ICROA is an IETA non-profit membership initiative, founded in 2008, promoting best practice and self-regulation in areas such as voluntary carbon foot printing, greenhouse gas reduction and offsetting.

The organisation’s membership consists of established carbon reduction and offset providers, who produce annual reports demonstrating compliance with its code, which specifies how members should provide advice and services.

ICROA runs an accreditation programme, based on this blueprint, which recognises organisations that develop and advance best practices in carbon emission reduction and offsetting that exceed regulatory demands.

Verra claims to set the world’s leading standards for climate action and sustainable development. Founded in 2007, it now builds standards for activities including reducing deforestation, improving agricultural practices, addressing plastic waste and achieving gender equality, all aimed at producing measurable, high-integrity outcomes.

These standards include the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program, a leading voluntary carbon market scheme. Verra, which also incubates new ideas aimed at generating meaningful environmental and social value at scale, works with governments, businesses, and civil society to advance the use of its standards worldwide.

UKGBC is an industry network, led by its more than 700 members, which aims to “radically transform” the built environment’s sustainability. The organisation’s goals include influencing policy and encouraging change to buildings, communities, cities and infrastructure, so people and nature thrive.

UKGBC’s key output has included its Renewable Energy Procurement and Carbon Offsetting Guidance for Net Zero Carbon Buildings, published in March 2021, which assists developers, designers, owners, occupants and policy makers. We’ve aligned our approach with UKGBC guidance…all the verification work we undertake complies with its standards, for example.

Gold Standard aims to ensure projects reducing carbon emissions feature the highest levels of environmental integrity and contribute to sustainable development.

The organisation seeks to accelerate progress through a range of robust standards and verified impacts that reduce barriers to market entry, increase capacity and incentivise more action on environmental markets, corporate sustainability and climate or development finance.

These schemes include the Gold Standard for the Global Goals, which specifies best practice in climate and sustainable development interventions, with a view to maximising impact, creating value for people and benefiting the planet.