v3: The OCP Methodology Tool, Digitalized End to End

Release Date: v3.3 - Monday 11 May 2026

The OCP Methodology Tool has been a core part of the platform since launch. In v3, we've completed a full rebuild of the methodology lifecycle, from proposal through to the approved, published methodology. Every stage now happens natively on the platform, in a standardized structure aligned with ICVCM requirements.

Full details can be found in “Methodology Development Process” in the OCP Handbook v4.0.

This release also marks the first time we're publishing formal release notes to the public. We'll do this for every significant release going forward.

What's New

Methodologies are now fully digital. Curators input, develop, and publish methodologies directly on the platform, with rich text editing that supports images, tables, links, and equations. No more PDFs or external files. View demo video of “Proposing a New Methodology”.

Standardized 17-section structure. All methodologies now follow a consistent structure aligned with ICVCM requirements. This makes it easier for experts, project developers, and buyers to navigate and compare methodologies across sectors. Full details can be found in the OCP Methodology Requirements. A new section, 2. Conservativeness, pulls together how each methodology handles uncertainty and applies conservative principles, information that was previously scattered throughout the document.

Section-by-section expert comments. Experts now leave feedback at the section level, with cleaner anonymity controls and threaded replies. View demo video of “Understanding the review Process as an Expert”.

Refined voting and public commentary. Voting Experts now indicate whether a methodology is ready for public commentary, replacing the previous conditional approval step. The 30-day public commentary period is now fully automated. All currently open public commentaries are listed on the platform.

Final Feedback and Vote. After public commentary, the expert panel reviews the v1.0 Candidate and submits a final round of feedback. Voting Experts then approve or reject based on the published voting criteria. Full details can be found in the OCP Handbook.

Minor methodology version updates. Methodology curators can now submit minor version updates directly on the platform (v1.0 to v1.1). Major version updates (v1.0 to v2.0) will follow in a future release. Full details on minor and major version updates can be found in the OCP Handbook.

Supporting updates. Email and in-platform notifications have been fully refreshed. Each feedback round shows a countdown timer with deadlines in the user's timezone. Methodologies can be exported as PDF, and expert comments as CSV. Version numbering is automated across draft (v0.1, v0.2...) and published (v1.0, v1.1, v2.0…) versions.

Existing Methodologies

As part of this release, our three existing methodologies have been converted to the new format and published as v1.1. The previous v1.0 PDFs remain available for download. v1.1 is the current version and should be used for all new project development.

The conversion involved reorganizing content into the new 17-section structure, standardizing terminology (Project Developer, VVB, Validation and Verification etc.), and updating all section references, tables, figures, and equations. Where sections reference OCP-specific processes, we've added default OCP text.

The full list of changes by each methodology can be found in the ‘Updates’ section of the methodology v1.1 or below.

OCP-MTD-03: Early Decommissioning of Marginal Oil and Gas Wells in the United States

• Updated Sections
  • Acronyms moved to ‘Acronyms’ section under ‘Supporting Information’
  • 1.1 Conservativeness > 2. Conservativeness
  • 2 Eligibility > 3. Eligibility
  • 3 Additionality > 4. Additionality
  • 4 Project Boundary > 5. Project Boundary
  • 5 Reporting Period; 6 Start Date; 7 Crediting Term > 6. Start Date, Reporting Period and Crediting Period
  • 8 Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions > 7. Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • 11.2.2 Uncertainty Adjustment > 7.5 Quantification - Uncertainty
  • 14.3 Data Management > 10. Data Management: added OCP default text
  • 16.2 Regulatory Compliance > 12. Regulatory Compliance: added OCP default text
• New or Updated Content
  • Updated ‘Project Proponents’ to ‘Project Developer’; ‘Verifier’ to ‘VVB’
  • 10. Data Management: changed “Data Management protocols will be specific to the registry associated with any given project.” to default OCP text
  • 13. Third Party Data Verification: added “All OCP project data must be verified by a third party before the OCP issues the relevant credits. See Section 13. Third Party Project Validation for more details.”
  • 15. Periodic Review: added OCP default text
  • Tables, references, equations, footnotes updated

OCP-MTD-08: Plugging Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells in the United States

• Updated Sections
  • 2. Applicability > 3. Eligibility
  • 2.4 Reporting Period & Project Start Date, and 2.5 Crediting Period > 6. Start Date, Reporting Period and Crediting Period
  • 3. Additionality > 4. Additionality
  • 4. Baseline Scenario and Project Activity > 18. Baseline Scenario and Project Activity
  • 6. Quantification of GHG Emission Reductions > 7. Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • 6.7 Total Emission Reductions moved into 7.1 Quantification Overview
  • Baseline Emissions > 7.2. Baseline Emission
  • 6.2 Module Selection > 7.2.1 Module Selection
  • 6.3 Module 1 > 7.2.2 Module 1
  • 6.4 Module 2 > 7.2.3 Module 2
  • 6.5 Project Emissions > 7.3. Project Emissions
  • 6.6 Leakage > 7.4. Leakage
  • 7. Permanence & Credit Issuance > 8. Permanence
  • 7.2 Credit Issuance > 8.2 Credit Issuance
  • 8. Monitoring and Data Collection > 9. Monitoring
  • 9. Verification Requirements > 13. Third Party Project Validation
  • 10. Continuous Improvement > 15. Periodic Review
• New or Updated Content
  • Updated ‘Project Proponents’ to ‘Project Developer’; ‘Verifier’ to ‘VVB’
  • 2. Conservativeness: added “Conservative practices are embedded throughout the quantification modules to ensure that any potential overestimations of emission reductions are minimized. The use of conservative terminal declines, conservative assumptions in module selection, and requirements for transparent reporting and measurement are all designed to mitigate uncertainty. As such, the conservative approach adopted within the methodology ensures that the emission reductions are robust, and no further uncertainty adjustments are necessary.”
  • 4. Additionality: changed "Projects are considered additional if they meet all eligibility criteria, as set forth in Sections 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4 of this methodology.” > “Projects are considered additional if they meet all eligibility criteria, as set forth in Section 3 and 6 of this methodology.” Added 2 missing footnotes, updated footnote numbering.
  • 6. Start Date, Reporting Period and Crediting Term: added “The start date is the date the first well in the project is plugged.”
  • 7. Quantification - Uncertainty Discount: added “In this methodology, no additional uncertainty deduction is applied to the calculated emission reductions. This is because conservative practices are already embedded throughout the quantification modules to ensure that any potential overestimations of emission reductions are minimized. The use of conservative terminal declines, conservative assumptions in module selection, and requirements for transparent reporting and measurement are all designed to mitigate uncertainty. As such, the conservative approach adopted within the methodology ensures that the emission reductions are robust, and no further uncertainty adjustments are necessary.”
  • 8. Monitoring Plan: Added “and atmospheric pressure” to list of ‘evidence of well eligibility’ under 9.2 (to match Project Activity), Removed ‘and’ from ‘and location, and results’ on Documented … for pre- and post-plugging tests
  • 10. Data Management: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 11. Buffer Pool: added “See Section 8: Permanence for details on insurance and permanence checks, which are used instead of buffer pools in this methodology.”
  • 13. Third Party Project Validation: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements (+ original Section 9 Verification Requirements)
  • 14. Third Party Data Verification: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 16. Credit Ownership: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 17. UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Contribution: added “Projects should highlight applicable SDGs as part of the project proposal processes. A non-exhaustive list of potential SDGs might include 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), or 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), or others depending on the project context. All projects support Goal 13 (Climate Action). For details of OCP's approach to safeguard and co-benefit reporting and tracking, please reference the OCP Handbook.”
  • Referencing etc.
  • Table 8 > Definitions
  • Figure 1 > Figure 8 (all other figures minus 1)
  • Equation 14 > Equation 1 (all other equation add 1)

OCP-MTD-09: HFC Destruction from Household Appliances in the U.S.

• Updated Sections
  • 2. Additionality > 4. Additionality
  • 3. Baseline Scenario > 18. Baseline Scenario
  • 4. Eligible Activities > 3. Eligibility
  • 4.6 Regulatory Compliance > 12. Regulatory Compliance
  • 5. Crediting and Reporting Period > 6. Start Date, Reporting Period and Crediting Period
  • 6. Project Activity > 19. Project Activity
  • 7. Project Boundary > 5. Project Boundary
  • 8. Quantification of GHG Emission Reduction > 7. Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • 8.4 Total Emission Reductions > 7.1 Quantification Overview
  • 8.1 Baseline Emissions > 7.2 Baseline Emissions
  • 8.2 Project Emissions > 7.3 Project Emissions
  • 8.3 Leakage > 7.4 Leakage
  • 9. Permanence & Credit Issuance > 8. Permanence
  • 10. Monitoring and Data Collection > 9. Monitoring
  • 11. Verification Requirements > 13. Third Party Project Validation (plus default text from OCP Methodology Requirements)
• New or Updated Content
  • Updated ‘Project Proponents’ to ‘Project Developer’
  • 2. Conservativeness: added “Conservative practices are embedded throughout the quantification modules to ensure that any potential overestimations of emission reductions are minimized.”
  • 7.5 Quantification - Uncertainty: added “In this methodology, no additional uncertainty deduction is applied to the calculated emission reductions. ”
  • 10. Data Management: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 11. Buffer Pool: added “There is no buffer pool contribution for this methodology.”
  • 14. Third Party Data Verification: added ****default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 15. Periodic Review: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 16. Credit Ownership: added default text from OCP Methodology Requirements
  • 17. UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Contribution: added “Projects should highlight applicable SDGs as part of the project proposal processes. A non-exhaustive list of potential SDGs might include 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), or 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), or others depending on the project context. All projects support Goal 13 (Climate Action). For details of OCP's approach to safeguard and co-benefit reporting and tracking, please reference the OCP Handbook.”
  • Referencing: Equation 7 > Equation 1 (all other equation add 1)