Voluntary offset carbon mechanisms
Verra (VCS)Gold StandardAmerican Carbon RegistryClimate Action ReservePlan VivoLabel bas carboneCloverlyPuro earth
Credits are certified by independent agencies where it’s the agency’s job to verify and manage the standards, projects, and transactions that take place. There are currently four major Green House Gas (GHG) crediting programs that certify projects: [all in the US]
- Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard
- Climate Action Reserve
- Gold Standard
- American Carbon Registry.
Credit certification :
- frame project ✅
- validate emissions ✅
- verify emissions (baseline, reduction, avoidance, …) ✅ : via 3rd parties (Verification Organisms)
- issue credit ✅
- exchange ? ⛔
1 carbon credit = 1 metric ton of carbon (whatever time horizon)
Different types of offset programs :
- At one end are complete offset programs that have developed standards, including rules, requirements, and administrative systems for accounting, quantifying, monitoring, reporting, verifying, certifying, and registering offset projects and credits. The standards developed by these full-fledged programs tend to build on existing rules and procedures from compliance markets, most notably the CDM (clean development mechanism from UNFCC)
- The CDM allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2. . These CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries to a meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
- At the other end are standards that are more limited in scopes, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 14064-2 and guidance references like the WRI GHG Protocol for Project Accounting. These standards and guidance provide common definitions, accounting frameworks, and quantification options that can be adopted or adapted by individual offset programs.
- Other standards, such as the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards or SocialCarbon provide design criteria to ensure robust project design and, particularly, in this case, local community and biodiversity benefits.
