We are pleased to announce that Heather McEwan has joined Verra as Senior Manager for South Africa. Heather will lead our engagement with local stakeholders and serve as a resource to them as Verra’s work in the country and surrounding region continues to grow. She is based in Port Elizabeth and can be easily contacted via email or through LinkedIn.

In June 2019, South Africa’s Carbon Tax Act went into effect to help the country meet its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program is recognized as an accredited standard under this regulation, and entities with tax obligations can use Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) to cover a portion of their tax liability.

A new Data & Insights Brief for South Africa is now available, covering the final, and very active, quarter of 2020. During these last three months of 2020, Verra saw a flurry of activity in issuances and retirements right before 30 October, the deadline for taxed entities in South Africa to satisfy their tax obligations or to make use of the allowance provisions enabled by the Tax Act. A total of 516,745 VCUs were retired from the Verra registry and listed in the South African Carbon Offset Administration System (COAS) for use by tax-paying entities.

In the coming months, Verra will continue to host additional webinars about the AFOLU and Non-AFOLU sectors to support both seasoned and new project proponents in South Africa. The next webinar is scheduled for 24 February 2021 and will build on a previous webinar covering the VCS program rules and methodologies. The February session discusses the application of Verra’s methodologies for agricultural land management, including cropping and livestock sectors, and includes the new Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management (IALM).

Webinar Details

Title: Leveraging the Verified Carbon Standard for Greenhouse Gas Reduction in the Agricultural Sector in South Africa
Date: 24 February 2021
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 pm SAST (8:00 – 9:00 am EST)

Watch the Recording

Access the Slide Deck

Questions & Answers

 

To stay abreast of our work in South Africa, please click here to join our South Africa mailing list.