As the world continues to monitor and respond to the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we wanted to reach out to express our hope that you and your families are remaining safe and healthy during this uncertain time. The spread of the virus has caused unprecedented disruptions in everyday life, and we are wishing for a speedy tapering-off of the virus’ impact.
We are also cognizant of the disruptions that the Coronavirus has caused in respect of the ability to travel safely. This, in turn, impacts the ability of our auditor and project developer communities to carry out the work necessary to complete validations and verifications under Verra’s programs. Accordingly, we wanted to provide a few points of guidance for our stakeholders going forward:
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- First and foremost, Verra considers everyone’s health and safety a top priority. As it relates to scheduled site visits and other related travel, please do not put yourselves in high-risk situations.
- Verra will be flexible in terms of validation and verification deadlines that projects may be facing. In particular, Verra encourages auditors and project developers to consider postponing scheduled site visits and other related travel where it would lead to health risks.
- By necessity, we will need to handle exemptions to our site visit requirements and validation/verification deadlines on a case-by-case basis. If you have questions regarding upcoming site visits or upcoming validation/verification deadlines, please reach out to us by emailing secretariat@verra.org. We are happy to work with our stakeholders to find workable pathways forward that balance the need for everyone’s safety while ensuring the continued rigor of our certification programs.
We’re wishing everyone good health and safety during these unprecedented times. Please contact us by emailing secretariat@verra.org, if there’s anything we can do to support your continued efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable development.