Prior Publications
Leading to the development of the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance
The AIM Platform’s first publication was the draft AIM Platform Criteria, which was released on May 22, 2024, for stakeholder input. These criteria were written to guide organizations seeking to address emissions in their value chain through “value chain interventions.” They focused on clarifying the AIM Platform’s perspective on what needed to be in place for an intervention to be considered sufficiently associated with an organization’s value chain, as well as the conditions required to ensure sound GHG accounting, environmental integrity, and appropriate claiming of impacts toward a climate target. To support stakeholder engagement, the draft included a set of targeted questions from the AIM Platform Governing Committee, intended to inform further deliberation and the eventual adoption of the Criteria.
During the comment period, the AIM Platform received valuable feedback from 31 entities, including 12 non-profits and 19 corporations across a wide range of sectors. This feedback was thoroughly reviewed by the Governing Committee and directly informed revisions to the Criteria. A key outcome of the feedback process was the decision to break the Criteria into two separate elements – the Association Test and the Intervention Quality, Accounting, and Reporting (QAR) Standard and Guidance – to undergo focused pilot testing and dedicated stakeholder feedback periods.
With the conclusion of those processes at the end of 2025, the AIM Platform has now published a unified framework, the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance, that integrates the Association Test and the QAR. Details on the initial drafts1 and the feedback received can be found below.
Linking decarbonization initiatives to a company’s value chain
The Association Test provides requirements and guidance that allows companies to confidently determine if a decarbonization investment (“intervention”) they want to pursue is associated with the company’s value chain. Assessing if an intervention is associated with a company’s value chain is a critical step to determining if the investment can count towards a company’s climate target.
The Association Test is an elaboration on the content from Criterion 1 of the draft AIM Platform Criteria, and incorporates feedback received on the Criteria from the public stakeholder consultation.
In January 2025, the AIM Platform initiated a multi-month pilot of the Association Test, engaging over 20 global companies representing a diverse range of sectors. Concurrently, on February 10, 2025, the AIM Platform released Version 1 of the draft Association Test for public consultation. Stakeholder feedback was collected through April 15, 2025.
The insights gathered from both the pilot program and the public comment period provided valuable input to the AIM Platform Governing Committee and Secretariat. This feedback informed the revision process to the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance, which was released in April 2026.
Stakeholder feedback has been anonymized and summarized for public review.
Outlining quality criteria and how to account for and report on intervention outcomes
The QAR builds directly on feedback received for Criterion 2 – 11 from the draft AIM Platform Criteria. It includes requirements and guidance that allows companies to confidently determine if a decarbonization intervention they want to pursue is accurate and credible, and how they should account for and report it across multiple ledgers.
Over 20 companies across a range of sectors partook in a pilot of the QAR. In addition to piloting, the draft QAR Standard was open for a public stakeholder comment period from September 10th, 2025 – December 3rd, 2025.
Feedback received from the pilot process and public stakeholder comment was used to inform the revisions for the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance. A summary of feedback received will be made public once it is reviewed by the Secretariat and Governing Committee.
Want to learn more? Watch our Webinar introducing the QAR linked below.
- Companies should use and reference the AIM Standard as a whole to ensure any claims made about a value chain intervention are appropriately associated, accounted for, and reported in accordance with the full AIM Standard requirements and guidance. References to these elements as separate or standalone documents is not encouraged. ↩︎