Background

In March of 2019, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published a set of emissions unit criteria by which emissions units would qualify for use in the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). In March of 2020, the ICAO Council voted to accept Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) issued to certain project types under certain conditions for use in CORSIA. The purpose of this guidance is to clearly identify which VCUs are eligible for use in CORSIA and to highlight how such eligible VCUs will be identified on the Verra Registry.

Note that this document will be updated from time-to-time as ICAO makes further decisions in respect of CORSIA emissions unit eligibility.

VCU Eligibility Criteria

VCUs that meet each of the following conditions are eligible for use in CORSIA for the 2021-2023 pilot phase:

• Crediting period eligibility: VCUs issued to projects that started their first project crediting period on or after 1 January 2016, according to the project crediting period start date specified at the time of project registration.
• Vintage eligibility: VCUs from a vintage occurring between the first project crediting period start date and 31 December 2020.
• Project/program type eligibility: VCUs issued to the following project/program types:
  • Any non-AFOLU project
  • Standalone AFOLU projects applying one of the following methodologies:
    • VM0012, Improved Forest Management in Temperate and Boreal Forests
    • VM0017 Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Land Management
    • VM0021 Soil Carbon Quantification Methodology
    • VM0022 Quantifying N2O Emissions Reductions in Agricultural Crops through Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate Reduction
    • VM0024 Methodology for Coastal Wetland Creation
    • VM0026 Methodology for Sustainable Grassland Management (and VMD0040 Leakage from Displacement of Grazing Activities)
    • VM0032 Methodology for the Adoption of Sustainable Grasslands through Adjustment of Fire and Grazing
    • VM0033 Methodology for Tidal Wetland and Seagrass Restoration
    • VM0036 Methodology for Rewetting Drained Temperate Peatlands
    • VM0041 Methodology for the Reduction of Enteric Methane Emissions from Ruminants through the Use of Feed Ingredients, v2.0
    • VM0042 Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management, v1.0
  • In addition, small-scale REDD+ activities (i.e., those generating less than 7,000 emission reduction/removals per year) can be implemented as standalone projects across all eligible GHG programs

• Sustainable development contributions reporting: VCUs issued to projects that have reported on their sustainable development contributions by virtue of:
  • Applying the Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards;
  • Applying the Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta);
  • Completing a Sustainable Development Contributions Report; or
  • Utilizing the latest templates for the VCS Monitoring Report or Joint Project Description and Monitoring Report.

CORSIA VCU Label

Where VCUs are demonstrated to have met each of the eligibility criteria set out above, a CORSIA label will be applied to such VCUs and displayed on the Verra Registry to indicate eligibility for use in CORSIA. Verra believes taking this labelling approach is more sensible than creating an entirely new unit type, since VCUs eligible for CORSIA may also be used for other purposes besides CORSIA. CORSIA-labeled VCUs are searchable in the Verra Registry under the “Additional Certifications” field.