February Newsletter

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to Verra’s February Newsletter. This has been a very busy month for us!

First and foremost, we are thrilled to welcome Judith Simon as Verra’s new President! Reporting to CEO David Antonioli, Judith joins at a critical and pivotal point in Verra’s evolution, as we embark on a major effort to improve our operations, from streamlining the certification process, embracing technology, and ensuring a high degree of professionalism across all of Verra’s operations. As President, Judith will accelerate Verra’s ongoing work to enable high-integrity climate and sustainable development action at scale, with a focus on improving operational excellence.

In other news, we have launched a consultation to inform the future development of our flagship Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program. This is part of our ongoing efforts to uphold the highest levels of integrity and improve the usability and outcomes of the program. We welcome feedback on all VCS requirements and processes as we plan for VCS Version 5.0.

In a similar vein, Verra will release a new consolidated REDD methodology in Q3 of 2023. The updated methodology will ensure that forest conservation credits issued in Verra’s flagship VCS Program are high-quality carbon credits.

In case you missed it, Verra has responded to recent press coverage about rainforest carbon offsets. We published a commentary by CEO David Antonioli on why we believe in REDD and also a technical review of the media article and the studies cited in it. We have included below a complete summary of our response materials.

Verra is also advancing work in our other programs. As an accredited observer to the United Nations Environment Program, we published recommendations highlighting how Plastic Credits issued by Verra’s Plastic Standard can help address plastic pollution and fulfill the objectives of the Global Plastic Treaty. Finally, we have published a commentary on why Verra’s nature crediting framework can help meet the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework targets and protect global biodiversity, following the successful COP15 of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which Verra attended.

It is exciting to see so much movement and engagement in the environmental and social markets, and we look forward to advancing this work together with all of you.