Carbon Green Investments (CGI) is free to pursue registration services from anyone who will take them – certainly for the Chirisa REDD+ Project, which has never been registered by Verra and is still in the pipeline.
The Kariba REDD+ Project represents an unprecedented situation in every sense, from the size of the project to a history going back more than a decade. In response, we are conducting a detailed review involving jurisdictions as varied as Guernsey and Zimbabwe. We have engaged, in the most timely way possible, in a good faith effort with a publicly reported and self-professed bad actor. We will continue to review this matter in compliance with our program rules and requirements.
Now we have learned of CGI’s desire to remove the Kariba REDD+ Project from our registry, which we are reviewing. Let me be clear: our motivation is not to facilitate any attempt to make a clean getaway, leaving others holding the bag. Rather, Verra will continue to focus on the environmental and social integrity expected by the thousands of high-credibility projects around the world. If the outcome of today is that Verra is known as an organization of integrity that takes the necessary time to review projects comprehensively and deals aggressively with any bad behavior, then: good.
Contact for media inquiries:
Jeremy Warren, senior manager, media relations
jwarren@verra.org | 1-512-851-9133
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Verra is a global leader helping to tackle the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges. As a mission-driven non-profit organization, Verra is committed to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods, and protect natural resources by working with the private and public sectors. We support climate action and sustainable development with standards, tools, and programs that credibly, transparently and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up projects that verifiably deliver these benefits.