Verra has opened a public consultation on a minor revision (methodology development ID #M0325) to Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) TOOL07: Tool to calculate the emission factor for an electricity system, v7.0 (external). The revised tool will be published as Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Tool Electricity System Emission Factor in Verra’s VCS Program. The proposed updates aim to align the tool with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) Assessment Framework of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
The ICVCM had identified concerns with the CDM tools in its recent methodology decisions and “invites CCP-Eligible programs to consider the work on grid emission factors that has been undertaken, and review/revise this element in new versions of the methodologies that they submit to ICVCM for assessment.” [1]
TOOL07 is used to calculate the grid emission factor for grid-connected renewable energy projects, among others. The suggested changes would improve the accuracy of these emission reduction calculations, while ensuring conservativeness.
The primary changes are as follows:
- Eliminating the option to establish the grid emission factor ex ante for the entire crediting period for projects supplying electricity to the grid
- Increasing the weighing of the build margin emission factor, i.e., the average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per unit of net electricity generation from the most recently built power plants, when calculating the combined margin emission factor (i.e., the weighted average of the operating margin and build margin emission factors)
- Including registered greenhouse gas projects in the build margin calculation
- Updating emission factors to ensure conservativeness when the tool is applied to different project activities
This revised tool will also be aligned with the tool to calculate emissions from electricity consumption (under development and referencing TOOL07) by providing guidance for determining the emission factor depending on whether a project activity increases electricity consumption or results in electricity savings. Both tools will ensure consistency and conservatives for projects involving an electricity system, either supplying to or consuming electricity from the grid.
Feedback
Please see the public consultation document (PDF) for the full background and details about the proposed changes to the tool.
Comments may be submitted electronically via the feedback submission form (see link below). Feedback should be submitted by 11:59 pm Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12) on Monday, November 4, 2024.
Verra is piloting its new digital public consultation platform, which is hosted on the Verra Project Hub, for this consultation. Stakeholders will need to use the link provided to enter their personal details, confirm their email address, and access the online consultation form. For additional guidance, please review the user guide (PDF) for the new digital public consultation platform.
If you experience issues using the digital public consultation platform or have feedback on it, please contact hubsupport@verra.org.