Verra Stakeholder Update Webinar – October 2025: Recap

Verra has been developing version 5 of the VCS Program for the last couple of years. The three main objectives of this update are (1) to increase program integrity, (2) to enhance the program’s accessibility and usability, and (3) to maximize impact.

We recently closed the third and final public consultation, during which we received nearly 2,500 comments from 81 respondents. Members of Verra’s Program Development and Innovation Department have also consulted directly with subject matter experts on specific program updates to help ensure they are technically sound and practical to implement. The feedback broadly supported the proposed updates but also included some new suggestions on how to improve clarity and maintain flexibility for specific project contexts, as well as suggestions on how to ensure the effective dates are reasonable. We appreciate all the feedback and are currently incorporating it into the final program documents. We are aiming to release version 5 of the VCS Program before the end of this year.

Verra recently released a number of new and updated methodologies and tools, including the following:

• A new methodology (VM0052) for the accelerated retirement of coal-fired power plants using a just transition
• A new tool (VT0014) for estimating organic carbon stocks using digital soil mapping
• An updated version of VM0042 to align with the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) established by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM)

Looking ahead, we plan on releasing the following new and updated methodologies and modules:

• A new methodology for alternative low-carbon fuels for shipping
• A revision to our methodology for ozone-depleting substances
• An update of our methodology for safe drinking water production systems
• A new module under our carbon capture and storage methodology to cover CO₂ capture and acid gas removal at natural gas processing plants

We are also advancing a revision of ACM0002 for grid-connected electricity generation from renewable sources and finalizing a tool for differentiating reductions and removals in improved forest management (IFM) projects.

The following VCS methodologies were recently approved by the ICVCM as meeting the CCPs:

• VM0044 Biochar Utilization in Soil and Non-Soil Applications, v1.2 (announcement)
• VM0045 Improved Forest Management Using Dynamic Matched Baselines from National Forest Inventories, v1.2 (announcement)
• VM0047 Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation, v1.1 (announcement; v1.0 had been approved previously)

The following VCS methodologies are currently undergoing ICVCM assessment:

VM0041 Reduction of Enteric Methane from Ruminants through Use of Feed Ingredients, v2.0

• VM0042 Improved Agricultural Land Management, v2.2
• VM0049 Carbon Capture and Storage, v1.0
• VM0051 Improved Management in Rice Production Systems, v1.0
• VM0052 Accelerated Retirement of Coal-Fired Power Plants using a Just Transition, v1.0

Projects in Verra’s VCS Program that use VCS Methodology VM0048 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, v1.0 and VCS Module VMD0055 Estimation of Emission Reductions from Avoiding Unplanned Deforestation, v1.1 are required to use VMD0055-compliant project baseline activity data derived from jurisdictional maps of allocated deforestation risk to set the baseline for their projects, an essential step in the project registration process.

The release of these data has been a bit slower than expected, but together with our collaborators we have been working hard on these maps and are committed to releasing high-quality data as efficiently as possible. We would like to thank everyone who provided feedback on the provisional maps, particularly on the data for Peru, which will be shared with the third-party reviewer later this month with the aim of releasing the final risk maps in November.

Specific Updates:

• We just posted provisional allocated deforestation risk maps for Colombia and are now accepting feedback (please see the Allocated Deforestation Risk Maps: Timetable webpage).
• Provisional risk maps for Mai N’Dombe (Democratic Republic of Congo) will be posted next week
• The risk maps for the Brazilian states of Acre, Amazonas, and Rondônia are currently under final review and will be posted when the reviews are complete.
• The allocated risk maps for Guatemala data are being updated and will be sent for final review once finalized.
• We are working on refining the risk maps for Cambodia data so that they reflect the needed accuracy across the country.
• We are working on adjusting our mapping approach for Tanzania and Kenya, as the approach that is outlined in VMD0055 has proven difficult in dryland forests. We hope to arrive at a workable solution in the next quarter and will provide an update as we have it.

Project proponents are encouraged to review the final open access provisional data before requesting final data through the Verra Project Hub. (Please see our Availability of Allocated Deforestation Risk Maps webpage for more info.)

Within the next few weeks, we plan to share our updated risk map priorities, based on the results of the survey we conducted in the spring. (The above-mentioned risk maps will be released as planned.) We will also announce the data service providers selected to support development of the next round of risk maps and release corrections and clarifications to VMD0055. Lastly, we are finalizing an approach to avoided unplanned deforestation under VM0048 that addresses lands under sustainable forest management. This will undergo expert review and should be available in the first half of next year.

We will release our Scope 3 Standard (S3S) Program in phases.

• Phase 1 of version 1 is expected to launch by the end of this year. This initial phase enables pipeline listing of interventions, where proponents can formally submit their interventions and list them in the Verra Scope 3 Standard Registry. This first phase will include a few methodologies adapted from the VCS Program, including VM0042 Improved Agricultural Land Management and VM0043 Utilization in Concrete Production.  Additional methodologies will be added over time.
• Phase 2 of version 1 is planned for mid-2026. This second phase will cover the full project cycle, including validation, registration, and verification, as well as the issuance of Intervention Units (IUs). It also introduces third-party validation/verification body (VVB) assurance, ensuring the same level of rigor and credibility as Verra’s VCS Program. For the first 12 months, only existing S3S pilots and existing and new sponsors will have access to this phase. If you are interested in an S3S sponsorship, please contact scope3@verra.org.

We will be developing version 2 of the S3S Program in parallel to the phased launch of version 1 and plan to launch it in late 2026 or early 2027. Version 2 will include a right-to-report mechanism, allowing companies with a demonstrated supply chain connection to the impacted product to report climate benefits in their inventories.

In November 2024, we implemented a risk-based approach to project reviews. Since then, this new approach has had a positive impact on our review times. After over a year of experience with and improvements to the project review process, we are now updating our service level agreements (SLAs) to reflect the updated review process and to make them more transparent. We also seek to better align the SLAs with the stages and complexity of reviews by program and request type to help our stakeholders more clearly understand review duration.

We shared the updated SLAs for Energy and Industrial Innovation projects and Natural Climate Solutions projects. A few highlights:

• With regard to Energy and Industrial Innovation projects, Verra is equal to or below the current SLAs for the initial review and the total maximal review times.
• For Natural Climate Solutions project reviews, the initial review time is a week or so longer than the current times, but the maximum review times have been reduced.

We also introduced SLAs for reviews of projects registered in Verra’s Plastic Waste Reduction Program.

The SLA overview table also now differentiates between request types. It shows that the review duration of verification requests is the shortest, followed by registration, followed by the review of registration and verification together. Lastly, the table now shows data for up to three rounds of project review reports (PRRs).

We are now also introducing SLA complexity levels—regular, high, and very high—to adjust the technical review durations based on the context of a particular review case. Verra is defining the complexity levels as follows:

• If one complexity factor is present, it results in a “high” complexity level and increases the technical review time by 25%.
• If two or more complexity factors are present, it results in a “very high” complexity level, increasing the technical review times by 50%

The complexity factors will be listed on our website.

If certain criteria apply to a project, the standard SLAs no longer apply. In such cases, Verra will reach out to project proponents and VVBs of these projects to let them know and to indicate when a response from Verra can be expected. Starting November 1, we will begin tracking against these new SLAs and make them available on the Verra Project Hub.