Verra is inactivating Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Methodology VM0022 Quantifying N2O Emissions Reductions in Agricultural Crops through Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate Reduction, v1.1 as of July 1, 2024. This methodology quantified reductions of N2O emissions from cropping systems.
VM0022 has been inactivated for the following reasons:
- Since the methodology was published in 2013, no project registered in the VCS Program has used it. Per section 5.1.4 of the Methodology Development and Review Process, v4.4 (PDF), Verra may make a VCS methodology inactive where no projects using the methodology have been registered within five years of the last update or review.
- It uses an outdated approach for quantifying N2O emission reductions.
- The methodology’s greenhouse gas (GHG) quantification approaches do not provide a full accounting of potential GHG emissions, including changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks.
Due to this inactivation, Verra will no longer continue with the major revision to VM0022 (methodology development ID #M0163). Instead, Verra is scoping updated nitrogen management and N2O reduction approaches and guidance as part of a major revision to VM0042 Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management, v2.0, which would result in version 3.0 of the methodology (methodology development ID #M0264).
Verra invites interested stakeholders to complete a pre-consultation survey (external) on the revision toward VM0042, v3.0. The survey includes questions on respondents’ interest in expanding activities for nitrogen management and on the latest approaches to N2O emission measurement and quantification.