Dear Colleague,

We sincerely hope you are staying well and healthy in these uncertain times. The arrival of the coronavirus has unmistakably changed our daily routines and is clearly on the forefront of everybody’s mind.

The disruption the coronavirus is causing is an important reminder that climate change represents a looming crisis that can quickly spiral out of control and cause great economic damage and social upheaval, especially if early and appropriate steps are not taken. There have been a number of interesting stories linking the current pandemic to climate change, and I found this article in Politico by Howard Kunreuther and Paul Slovic, both experts on risk management and decision making, particularly insightful and relevant. More than anything, it reminds us of the need to advance our work on climate change now to prevent a crisis in the future.

This is a time for bold action, and Verra looks forward to scaling up our work with many of you to build a solid foundation for tackling climate change and other sustainable development challenges. There are a number of interesting announcements in this newsletter – we hope you find them informative and useful.

Before we dive into the actual newsletter, two quick housekeeping matters: 

    • Future newsletters and mailings from Verra will come from communications@verra.org. Please update your address books accordingly so you continue to receive our mailings.

    • We’re also updating our email lists! You can now subscribe to receive information on specific areas of our work that interest you. Visit this page to update your preferences.

VCS Accepted To Supply Carbon Credits Under CORSIA

We are pleased to announce that the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program has been accepted as one of the programs that will be eligible to supply emission reduction units for compliance under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). We commend the Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and ICAO for following a rigorous and thorough process to determine which programs will be eligible under CORSIA. Although the most recent ICAO announcement included certain restrictions for the VCS Program, we are working to resolve these limitations as quickly as possible to ensure credits from a wider variety of project types have access to this important new market. We have already submitted revisions to certain program rules to the TAB and are also encouraging the TAB to publish guidance so that AFOLU activities can be assessed in a fair, consistent and transparent manner. Click here to learn more about VCS’ acceptance and our planned next steps.

The Verra Team Grows

To strengthen Verra’s leadership in scaling up the implementation of REDD+ and Nature-Based Solutions more broadly, we are excited to announce several changes and additions to the Verra team.

  • Naomi Swickard, formerly Verra’s Chief Market Development Officer, has assumed the role of Chief Program Officer. Naomi brings a tremendous amount of program and AFOLU/REDD+ expertise, institutional knowledge and management expertise, all of which will be leveraged in this new role.
  • Manuel Estrada is our new REDD+ and AFOLU Director, and he started with Verra on 24 February. Manuel has worked on climate change issues for more than two decades. Manuel participated in UNFCCC negotiations on behalf of the Ministry of Environment, Mexico, has carried out numerous projects on the policy, financial, methodological and carbon accounting aspects of REDD+ and AFOLU, and has been a member of the UNFCCC Roster of Experts for years.
  • Candance Vinke joined Verra as Nature-based Innovations Director (for more information about Verra’s work in this area click here). Candace has spent the past decade helping companies and governments develop high-impact nature-based strategies to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals, and support sustainable development.
  • Patrick Crist joined Verra as LandScale’s new Senior Manager, Product Development. Patrick has substantial experience as a practitioner and researcher at the interface of conservation and human development and will be helping to advance the LandScale Framework and develop tools to support its widespread application.

Plastics Program Public Consultation Closing Soon

Verra’s newest program, the Plastic Recovery and Recycling Project Accounting Program (Plastic Accounting Program) addresses the issue of mounting plastic pollution by driving finance to plastic waste recovery and recycling activities around the world. Each year, at least 8 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean, making innovative and scalable solutions to waste collection and management more important than ever. The Plastic Accounting Program recently launched its first public consultation. The consultation is open for another 10 days, until 26 April, and we would appreciate your input!

Verra Registry Is Now Live!

As part of streamlining our support to projects, we are pleased to announce that the new Verra Registry is now live! We would like to thank all of our stakeholders for their feedback, support and patience during the transition process. We recently hired Tiffany Herndon and Evan Frazier to strengthen the Registry Team and look forward to working with you all in our capacity as the administrator of the Verra Registry system. We are happy to report that the Verra Registry is off to a good start and that everything is running smoothly. We also have plans to add some new functionalities to the platform in the near future. In the meantime, if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please reach out to registry@verra.org.

In Other News

Regular Updates