VM0045 Improved Forest Management Using Dynamic Matched Baselines from National Forest Inventories, v1.2

This methodology applies to a wide range of improved forest management (IFM) practices and uses dynamic performance benchmark for additionality and the crediting baseline created from national forest inventories.

Eligible projects must adopt one or more specific, non-pre-existing, IFM practices. The focus of accounting is on the estimation of GHG emissions and/or carbon stock change on permanent plots, not on the estimation of stocks per se, therefore improving the precision of reported GHG emission reductions and/or removals. For all activities, the methodology uses a matching approach to construct a quasi-experimental design with matched pairs of treatments (project) and controls (baseline), with baseline plots sourced from existing continuously measured national or sub-national forest inventory data.

The methodology employs a broad monitoring and accounting framework that captures the GHG impacts of IFM practices aimed at avoiding emissions (from harvest or natural disturbance) or enhancing sequestration. Projects may apply a combination of practices implemented together in the same area.

VM0045, v1.2 has been approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) as meeting the requirements of the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) Assessment Framework, see the ICVCM decision (external). A guidance document outlining Verra’s process for CCP labeling, the ICVCM CCP Label Guidance (PDF), is available on the  VCS Rules and Requirements page.

Where VCUs have been issued from projects using multiple methodologies, only VCUs from projects solely using CCP-approved methodologies are eligible for CCP labels.

The following revisions to this methodology are currently under development or open for public consultation.