The AIM Platform Standard and Guidance was informed by public feedback on prior drafts

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 high-level rules 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 the next steps of the AIM Platform. A key takeaway from the feedback was that companies needed more detailed and assurable requirements to effectively pursue value chain interventions. As a result, the decision was made to break the Criteria into two separate elements – the Association Test and the Intervention Quality, Accounting, and Reporting (QAR) Standard and Guidance – that would each individually undergo additional development, focused pilot testing, and stakeholder feedback periods. Information on the pilot processes and a summary of feedback received is below.

With the conclusion of the Association Test (January – April 2025) and the QAR (September – December 2025) development processes, the AIM Platform has now published a unified framework, the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance, which integrates the Association Test and the QAR.