Today we launch the second public consultation on the proposed updates to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) which will form the basis of VCS Version 4. This second consultation is a follow up to the more than 300 comments submitted by more than 50 organizations during our May 2018 consultation. Since this previous consultation, we have been analyzing your feedback, engaging in dozens of follow up conversations, and monitoring developments in the wider policy space to ultimately determine next steps for Version 4.
Similar to the 2018 consultation, this second one is guided by a Consultation Roadmap, which sets out the catalogue of proposed changes subject to consultation. For each proposal we have prepared an individual consultation document that summarizes the main points of feedback received during the first consultation, indicates whether, how, and why the proposal has been updated from the 2018 version, and, where appropriate, indicates how we plan to incorporate the proposal into the VCS rules.
As you will see, most of the originally proposed changes will be moving ahead, some with minor updates and others with more substantive changes. In some cases, however, we have — based on your feedback during the first consultation and developments in the international space, particularly a lack of clarity around the details of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement — decided that we should continue to work on these critical issues and release changes at a later time.
We have designed the consultation to facilitate your review of the proposals most relevant to your work, although we invite you to review and respond to as many proposals as you’re able to. The consultation will run for 60 days, ending on 10 June 2019. After the consultation, we’ll use your input to finalize and release the content of VCS Version 4, which we anticipate occuring in Q3 of this year.
Please provide comments in any form, including email or by preparing formal documents, and send them to secretariat@verra.org. As always, please let us know if you have any questions as you engage in this consultation. We look forward to your feedback.