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 December 2023.
Below, please find the latest updates on each commitment. For a deep dive into several of these areas, we encourage you to view the recording of our April Stakeholder Update Webinar (YouTube).
Here are the updates:
Operational Excellence
- Verra committed to 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 opened our new Digital Project Submission Tool for pilot testing to a limited audience; we will refine this tool and begin a phased launch of a few methodologies to a broader audience in Q2 2024. Also in Q1 2024, we launched a Project Location Review Tool to internal stakeholders.
- Verra published service-level agreements (SLAs) in February 2024 to increase transparency around the project review process. These SLAs are available on the Verra Project Hub and include targets for Verra’s project review process as well as stakeholder query response and resolution.
- In January 2024, Verra launched a new stakeholder support function with a dedicated Stakeholder Support Team responsible for quickly responding to stakeholder project-specific and program-related queries in a streamlined way. This team manages the new Stakeholder Contact Form, which is designed to collect project-related questions and route requests to the appropriate team within Verra. So far, the team has acknowledged all emails and forms received to date, responded to more than 9,500 emails, and processed over 300 contact forms.
- In January 2024, Verra’s Auditing and Accreditation Team launched its Performance Monitoring Program (PMP) for validation/verification bodies (VVBs). This program ensures that the entities assessing projects seeking registration and/or issuance with Verra deliver consistent, high-quality audits. Verra evaluates VVB performance systematically across various criteria to ensure adherence to ISO principles and alignment with Verra program standards and rules, thereby supporting credible and quality project audits and, ultimately, high-quality Verified Carbon Units.
Enhanced Program Integrity and Impact
- Since releasing our groundbreaking new REDD methodology (VM0048) in November 2023, we have continued to advance work on components that will enable the implementation of this methodology. In February 2024, we launched VT0007, a tool for unplanned deforestation allocation that is a key component for the new approach to setting project baselines following VM0048 and the new module for Avoided Unplanned Deforestation activities (VMD0055). At the same time, we put out a call for supplementary materials for jurisdictional deforestation risk mapping, which we are advancing in an initial set of jurisdictions. We also opened applications for a REDD Methodologies Working Group, which will support the further development of Verra’s REDD methodologies and the continued evolution of the VCS Program’s rules and requirements related to REDD.
- In Q1 2024, we took next steps toward developing version 5 of the VCS Program by publishing comments received during a high-level public consultation on the program’s rules and requirements. In March 2024, we issued a new version (v4.6) of the VCS Standard, which clarifies the VCS Program’s ecosystem health safeguards. Then, in April 2024, we published additional updates to the VCS Program and v4.7 of the VCS Standard. With these latest updates, the VCS Program expects to meet all conditions for a full approval under the first phase of the Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The updates also clarify how the program aligns with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) established by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
- We continued with our routine review of all eligible and approved methodologies to ensure that all methodologies in the VCS Program remain usable and consistent with program requirements, market best practices, and the latest scientific evidence. In Q1, Verra reviewed 14 VCS and CDM methodologies that are active under the VCS Program. Key outcomes from the ongoing reviews include advancing the development of a new VCS methodology for improved management in paddy rice production systems (M0253), the issuance of a correction and clarification applicable to CDM methodology AM0073 (external), and a public consultation on proposed revisions to a VCS methodology for refrigerant leak detection (VM0001).
Accountability
- We have continued to enhance our work with governments—particularly those in developing countries—to help channel finance and technology toward their work in meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. We currently have Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for relevant activities with governmental entities in Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, and Singapore. We are also concluding agreements with national and subnational public entities in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region. A concrete example of this work is Verra’s support of the Chilean carbon market: the VCS Program is now officially eligible to participate this market under a new environmental policy approved by the Ministry of the Environment, and we will offer stakeholder trainings about various aspects related to the VCS Program. Additionally, to strengthen engagement with governments in other regions, we have expanded our Regional Engagement Team and added Regional Representatives for regions and countries that are developing carbon pricing initiatives that Verra can support (Europe, the United States, and Canada).
- In partnership with one of our global NGO partners, we completed consultations focused on learning from and engaging with Indigenous Peoples and local communities to inform Verra’s Nature Framework and its safeguards. We held nine sessions with 67 attendees. Five sessions were virtual (most with live translation) and three sessions took place in person at the following events: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) 2023; the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2023; and the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We also held one on-demand session. A summary of the consultations is forthcoming.
- We are advancing 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 initial 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, as well as social and environmental safeguards.
- To support Verra’s efforts to integrate sustainable development across all its standards programs, Verra is relaunching its Sustainable Development Advisory Group (SDAG). The SDAG will serve as a strategic resource for Verra’s accountability commitment by (1) providing input on strengthened program requirements and guidance on social and environmental safeguards and community and stakeholder engagement in all Verra programs, and (2) guiding the development of the standardized approach for monitoring, reporting, and verifying sustainable development contributions and benefits in Verra projects, in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Verra is stepping up its work on plastics. We attended INC-4 in Ottawa to further discuss the role of Plastic Credits as an outcome-based finance mechanism for meeting voluntary and regulatory objectives for addressing plastic pollution. The important role of Plastic Credits was also recognized earlier this year when the World Bank, Citibank, and Plastic Collective announced an innovative plastic waste reduction-linked bond. This bond will leverage Verra Plastic Credits to provide returns to its investors, demonstrating a novel pathway for financial instruments to support the scaling up of plastic waste reduction activities.
