Verra is pleased to announce the election of Dr. Tao Yun and Dr. Anne-Marie Warris as Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.
Tao and Anne-Marie move into these roles as Verra is entering a time of transitions. Programmatically, Verra continues to broaden its scope of activities and now manages a number of standards that are driving investment towards climate action and sustainability. With 2021 being the first year of the Paris Agreement, there is a need to ensure voluntary carbon markets support broad decarbonization efforts, while initiatives such as the work of the Taskforce for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets are set to strengthen the market. Questions such as what is the future of the voluntary market and what constitutes the voluntary market are being raised. At the same time, organisations’ communications about sustainability is increasing and the market for plastic credits is beginning to take hold. Verra focus is and remains on ensuring quality, which is critical and central to these markets.
“I am excited to serve as chair on Verra’s Board of Directors as the carbon markets undergo a number of important transitions and as the organization expands into new areas of tremendous opportunity, such as the markets for plastic credits and ESG reporting. As an established standard-setter, Verra brings a lot of experience to these areas, and I look forward to working with Management to help guide this work.”
Organizationally, Verra is consolidating its role as a leading standard setter and has gone from being a small start-up to an organization with over 50 employees spread around the world — and still expanding. This growing maturity carries with it a need to continue evolving our internal management procedures as well as further diversifying the Board of Directors.
Tao and Anne-Marie bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be invaluable during this time of change. Tao’s background in building businesses, environmental protection, IT, investment, and big data will be a valuable resource to Verra as we continue to mature organizationally and explore innovations in these areas. Anne-Marie’s significant experience of governance across different types of organisations as well as in climate and sustainability will be a critical resource to all of Verra’s work.
“Quality, integrity and transparency are my personal focus for Verra to help drive change in behaviour and protect our planet. This focus is essential for Verra as it navigates the changes in the voluntary carbon market, provides additional benefits for the VCM linked to UN SDG such as SDVista or provides and explores other market mechanisms such as plastic credits. I am privileged to have been elected to serve as vice chair on Verra’s Board of Directors and I look forward to working with the Board and Management.”
We look forward to having Tao and Anne-Marie guide Verra’s growth as an organization and help us navigate the opportunities and challenges in the voluntary carbon market, the market for plastic credits, and in the area of sustainability reporting while maintaining a focus on quality.