The New Year brings new hope for increased progress towards addressing climate change. To that end, and with a particular eye on the progress under the Montreal Protocol, G-20 and other bilateral government discussions on the international regulation of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), specifically as they relate to HFC-23, the VCS will no longer approve or accept for consideration new methodologies and projects relating to HFC-23.
We believe that the Montreal Protocol is an appropriate mechanism for addressing HFC-23 emissions, despite the important role that carbon markets have played in addressing this greenhouse gas. Should there be little progress towards direct international regulation of HFC emissions over the coming years, VCS could consider whether market incentives have a role to play in this area.
This revision to the scope of the VCS Program is effective immediately and the new scope of the program can be found here. The VCS Standard document itself will be updated at the next scheduled program update. In keeping with all updates to the VCS rules, registered VCS projects remain eligible for crediting until the end of their project crediting periods.
VCS revises the program periodically, as part of its commitment to improve the VCS Program and remain at the cutting edge of innovation in voluntary carbon market. You can view all updates since the release of Version 3 by clicking here.
As always, questions, comments or feedback may be sent to secretariat@v-c-s.org.
Summary: VCS Program disallows credits for HFC-23 projects