Since September 2023, Verra has been moving toward a new era of scaling our impact, engaging more actively with our stakeholders, and achieving operational excellence to effectively advance climate action and sustainable development.
We have an enormous responsibility in the marketplace, and we take it seriously.
We identified three priority areas of focus based on our stakeholder listening tour and made commitments related to each. We’ve been busy since then, and since our most recent quarterly update in April 2024.
Below, please find the latest updates on each commitment.
Operational Excellence
- We have completed most goals under this thematic area that we set for ourselves in September 2023:
- We published service-level agreements (SLAs) to increase transparency around the project review process.
- We launched a new stakeholder support function with a dedicated Stakeholder Support Team responsible for quickly responding to project-specific and program-related queries in a streamlined way.
- Our Auditing and Accreditation Team launched its Performance Monitoring Program (PMP) for validation/verification bodies (VVBs).
- Our work continues on a multiyear digitalization initiative to invest in the technology needed to significantly increase transparency and efficiency and scale up our operations. In Q1 2024, we pilot tested and refined our new Digital Project Submission Tool and are now nearing a phased launch of this tool.
- Additionally, we hired a chief financial officer, Anil Vinayak, who will further support Verra’s operational excellence by solidifying and strengthening the organization’s financial tools, transactional capabilities, and overall financial portfolio.
We will soon be setting new goals for this thematic area and will share them widely with all stakeholders.
Enhanced Program Integrity and Impact
- Since releasing our groundbreaking new REDD methodology (VM0048) and the module for Avoiding Unplanned Deforestation (AUD) activities (VMD0055) in November 2023, we have continued to advance work on components that will enable the implementation of this methodology. We are currently in the final phase of preparing to release the activity data for AUD projects in the Phase 1 jurisdictions. Project proponents use these activity data to set the baseline for their projects, which is an essential step in the project registration process. The availability of these activity data will make VM0048 and VMD0055 operational and ready to use. Phase 2 jurisdictions will be available from late 2024 into Q1 2025. Specific information about anticipated timelines is coming soon.
- In Q2 2024, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) recognized Verra’s landmark VCS Program as being fully aligned with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) for high-quality carbon credits. The ICVCM also approved the first set of methodologies that meet its CCPs, including two methodologies active in the VCS Program. CCP labels are now active on the Verra Registry. The labels may be applied to Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) from projects using methodologies that are eligible in the VCS Program and that have been approved by the ICVCM.
- Verra launched a consultation on an optional pathway for projects registered in the VCS Program to both (1) update the methodology or methodology version they are using for past verification periods and (2) requantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and carbon dioxide removals from past verification periods in accordance with that methodology. Such a change would enable proponents to obtain CCP labels for the requantified VCUs if the new methodology or methodology version to which a project updates is approved by the ICVCM.
- We are actively working on the development of version 5 of the VCS Program with a focus on enhancing the usability, transparency, and integrity of the program. We will soon be consulting on the initial round of proposed updates.
- We continue with our routine review of all eligible and approved methodologies in the VCS Program, as well as ongoing work to develop and update these methodologies to ensure that they remain usable and consistent with program requirements, reflect best practices and the latest science, meet market demand, and unlock climate action. Key outcomes from this work include the following:
- The release of three VCS methodologies that are revisions to CDM methodologies (VMR0010, VMR0011, and VMR0012)
- The release of a revised pavement replacement methodology (VM0039)
- The inactivation of four low-use methodologies and the nitrogen management methodology (VM0022)
- The consolidation of sustainable grassland methodologies and Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation methodologies
- The initiation of a revision to our agricultural land management methodology
- A public consultation on our new rice methodology
- In addition, we released VCS Methodology VM0049 Carbon Capture and Storage, a globally applicable framework for technology-based carbon capture and storage (CCS) activities that generate carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) and emission reductions.
Accountability
- We have continued to enhance our work with governments—particularly those in developing countries—to support them in meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. This includes facilitating countries’ connections with carbon markets, which play a key role in channeling finance to domestic climate mitigation activities. We currently have Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for relevant activities with governmental entities in Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. We are concluding additional agreements with national and subnational public entities in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, and Europe.
- In Chile, where projects registered with the VCS Program are now eligible to participate in the domestic carbon market, Verra and FOREDOR have launched an initiative to offer educational courses on carbon markets in the Latin American region. FOREDOR is a Chilean company dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management. In both 2023 and 2024, the co-hosted course attracted participants from almost all countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
- We held a capacity-building workshop in Benin for government representatives to share information about carbon markets.
- We submitted feedback to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the draft design of the proposed Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program under the Growing Climate Solutions Act. In these comments, we recommended that the USDA utilize the existing infrastructure of greenhouse gas crediting programs for guidance to ensure high-integrity action in the carbon market and efficient project development and management processes.
- We published comprehensive stakeholder feedback on the first draft of the Nature Framework. This feedback comes from a public consultation, consultations to engage with and learn from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and pilot projects testing the Nature Framework. Verra will incorporate this feedback into version 1.0 of the Nature Framework, which is expected to launch in late 2024.
- We continue to advance our work on a tool to facilitate the identification of social and environmental risks in Verra projects, supported by guidance for implementing and assessing safeguards and other core requirements such as grievance mechanisms, transparent benefit sharing, and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). We are currently conducting research to assess necessary updates to the VCS Program requirements. Initial draft information about this tool will be published as part of the first public consultation on version 5 of the VCS Program to gather feedback on high-level proposals for stakeholder engagement, and social and environmental safeguards.
- We are moving forward with the relaunch of our Sustainable Development Advisory Group (SDAG), which will support our efforts to integrate sustainable development across all our standards programs. We expect to hold the first SDAG meeting in September 2024.
- We are stepping up our work on plastics. In May 2024, Verra attended INC-4 in Ottawa as an accredited observer, engaging in the treaty negotiations to highlight that the Plastic Waste Reduction Program (Plastic Program) provides a framework to mobilize finance for plastic waste collection and recycling activities. The Plastic Team has continued with other outreach efforts, which include a presentation to Asian Development Bank staff and its developing member countries as part of a capacity-building program focused on accelerating the circular economy. In Q3 2024, the Plastic Team will hold regional webinars for stakeholders in Africa and Latin America to provide an overview of the Plastic Program and Plastic Credits, as well as strategies for regional plastic waste management. We also published a new fact sheet (PDF), which provides an overview of how the Plastic Program supports verified actions beyond the value chain.
