December Newsletter

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to Verra’s December Newsletter!

As 2022 draws to a close, there has been significant activity in the development of environmental and social markets. Several important events have been and are still taking place in which Verra is participating. The team had a strong presence at COP27 in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt and is sending a delegation to the Convention on Biological Diversity – COP15 in Montréal, Canada. In parallel, we are engaging to affirm a role for plastic credits in a global plastic treaty as the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meets in Uruguay to discuss an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

Verra also wishes to provide an update on our project review processes. From 2021 to 2022, Verra has received significantly increased numbers of requests which has extended our timelines for processing project reviews. To reduce these timelines, Verra is currently undertaking several measures, including strengthening VVB auditing capacity, updating our stakeholder communications systems, and expanding our capacity to conduct project reviews. We look forward to working with other market stakeholders to turn the challenges resulting from this market growth into opportunities.

Here at Verra, we recently celebrated the issuance of the 1 billionth Verified Carbon Unit (VCU). Each of these VCUs represents a tonne of emissions that has not entered the atmosphere. This number also stands for billions of dollars mobilized, thousands of lives improved, and precious ecosystems conserved. While we still have a lot further to go, we want to take this as an opportunity to pause and thank all stakeholders who are working with us on using markets to advance climate action and sustainable development.