Verra has published VMR0016 Flaring or Use of Landfill Gas, v1.0 in the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program. This constitutes a revision to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) methodology ACM0001: Flaring or use of landfill gas (external).
VMR0016 applies to project activities that involve the destruction of methane emissions and the replacement of fossil fuels. Projects achieve this by capturing landfill gas and flaring the methane, using it to produce electricity or thermal energy, and/or supplying it to consumers through natural gas distribution networks, dedicated pipelines, or trucks. The methodology is globally applicable.
Both ACM0001 and AMS-III.G.: Landfill methane recovery will be inactivated as standalone methodologies under the VCS Program as of December 1, 2026, and replaced by VMR0016.
VMR0016 includes the following revisions:
- The replacement of CDM tools with VT0009 Combined Baseline and Additionality Assessment and VT0010 Emissions from Electricity Consumption and Generation (and associated tool VT0011 Electricity System Emission Factors)
- The inclusion of a positive list for automatic additionality of certain projects (adapted from CDM TOOL32 Positive Lists of Technologies)
- Guidance for projects transitioning from AMS-III.G. to VMR0016
- The inclusion of a monitoring parameter for the installed capacity for electricity generation from landfill gas (reporting-only)
Implications for VCS Projects
- Projects using VMR0016 must apply this methodology in conjunction with the most recent version of ACM0001 as indicated in VMR0016.
- Projects seeking registration or crediting period renewal using ACM0001, v10.0 or AMS-III.G., v19.0 must submit a registration request or crediting period renewal request by November 30, 2026.
- Projects using ACM0001 or AMS-III.G. as standalone methodologies may continue to use the applied methodology version for the remainder of the project crediting period. These projects must update to the most recent version of VMR0016 at their next crediting period renewal.
- Verra has inactivated CDM TOOL32 under the VCS Program for use with ACM0001 and AMS-III.G. Projects using CDM TOOL32 with these methodologies must have been listed as under validation on the Verra Registry by November 21, 2025, and must submit a registration request by May 31, 2026.
ICVCM Assessment
VMR0016, v1.0 was developed to align with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) established by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM). Verra will submit VMR0016, v1.0 to the ICVCM for assessment.
Previously, the ICVCM approved ACM0001, v15.0-v19.0 and AMS-III.G., v9.0-10.0 as meeting the CCPs for (1) landfill gas project types that do not generate electricity and (2) landfill gas-to-electricity projects with a capacity of equal to or below 10 megawatts electrical (MWe).