Verra and the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on a domestic accreditation program for validation/verification bodies (VVBs) in South Africa.
Since the introduction of the South African carbon tax, demand for carbon credits from domestic projects has significantly increased as has the number of projects requiring validation and verification. However, there are currently no accredited and approved auditors for VCS projects in South Africa, and contracting out-of-country auditors is costly.
The new accreditation program will fill this gap by accrediting VVBs that serve as independent expert auditors to validate projects in Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program and to verify the emission reductions and removals achieved by these projects.
In late November, Verra held the first VCS-specific training for potential VVBs, an essential step for VVBs seeking to be approved for validating projects and verifying emission reductions and removals in South Africa. If you have questions or are interested in a future training, please contact Heather McEwan, Senior Manager, South Africa, hmcewan@verra.org.