Putrajaya, Malaysia – June 19, 2024 | The Malaysia Forest Fund (MFF), an agency of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, and Verra, the nonprofit that serves as the world’s leading standards setter for climate action and sustainable development, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support alignment of Malaysia’s forestry carbon initiatives with Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program.
Under this MOU, MFF and Verra will explore and implement activities to facilitate future forestry projects using MFF’s Forest Conservation Certificate (FCC) and Forest Carbon Offset (FCO) standards to meet requirements of Verra’s VCS Program. Activities include knowledge sharing on the general carbon market operation of the Verra Registry, VCS Program requirements, VCS methodology development, and Verra’s review processes.
“By executing this MOU, Verra will assist MFF in harmonizing Verra’s standard requirements with the FCC and FCO,” said Datuk Haji Jeffri Abd Rasid, chief executive officer of Malaysia Forest Fund. “The incorporation of essential technical requirements is pivotal in formulating this protocol. This cooperative effort is anticipated to enhance the protocol’s alignment with the demands of both domestic and global markets, subsequently garnering increased acceptance and support from national stakeholders. Moreover, the MOU is envisaged to contribute to MFF’s endeavors to establish itself as a benchmark of excellence at national and international levels.”
“With its high forest cover and rich biodiversity, Malaysia will help leverage carbon markets to better protect and conserve its forests,” said Robin Rix Verra, chief legal, policy, and markets officer at Verra. “This MOU will lead to greater climate finance access, which is crucial to funding more forestry projects in Malaysia. Verra is excited to assist MFF to promote the use of Verra’s standards programs in the country.”
The MOU is another step in Verra’s broader efforts to work with governments to support them in meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Verra’s Government Engagement Strategy that promotes using carbon markets for this purpose.
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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.