Verra Press Release

Announcing Verra

We are pleased to announce that, as of today, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) is now Verra, with the tagline “Standards for a sustainable future.” In response to increasing demand for ambitious sustainable development and environmental standards, we have been expanding our work into new arenas over the last several years. Our new name and visual identity reflect this ongoing expansion and establish a powerful platform for the suite of standards we manage. We are thrilled to mark our 10 years as an organization with this new chapter.

Our new name, Verra, suggests ‘verification’ and ‘terra’, and reflects the fundamental nature of our work. Our certifications provide confidence, credibility and integrity based on the high-quality of our standards and the programs we build around them, including reliance on independent auditing and verification. Terra, the latin word for earth, grounds us in what we seek to support – the Earth and its inhabitants. By developing and managing standards for a sustainable future we hope to address pressing environmental and sustainable development issues.

With this change to our brand, we are also better unifying the standards we manage into a family of related but distinct seals, each reflecting the key components of our various offerings: the VCS Program, the VCS California Offset Project Registry, the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards and the Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard.

What’s Next

This is is a big new chapter for us, but it will not change our core work. We will still manage our standards programs under their existing names and as they currently function, with protocols and terminology (e.g., VCU’s) remaining exactly the same. We will continue the work of continually strengthening our existing standards, as well as developing new ones, that are both robust and practical and help solve the social and environmental challenges we face.

Over the coming year, we will be introducing Verra at a number of conferences and events. We look forward to getting to share our organization and our work with potential new partners and long-standing colleagues. We also look forward to continuing to support the tremendous work of our stakeholders as their aspirations continue to grow, along with ours! We welcome any questions about Verra and how this transition might affect your work at secretariat@verra.org.