S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
Solutions
Capabilities
Delivery Platforms
News & Research
Our Methodology
Methodology & Participation
Reference Tools
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Featured Events
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
S&P Global Offerings
S&P Global
Research & Insights
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
About Commodity Insights
Solutions
Capabilities
Delivery Platforms
News & Research
Our Methodology
Methodology & Participation
Reference Tools
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Featured Events
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
S&P Global Offerings
S&P Global
Research & Insights
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
About Commodity Insights
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
Support
30 Aug 2023 | 11:35 UTC
Highlights
Says version 4.5 will strengthen usability, integrity, transparency
New labels will help differentiate between CDR and GHG reduction credits
US-based registry in quest to improve operations after recent criticism
Carbon registry Verra has made a series of tweaks to its flagship Verified Carbon Standard program, which include new labels for carbon removal credits and for offsets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, it said Aug. 29.
The latest update to the program, known as VCS Version 4.5, will strengthen its "usability, transparency, and integrity," and align it with integrity initiatives, such as the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) and the Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the world's largest certifier of carbon credits said.
The updated VCS will include labels that clearly distinguish between Verified Carbon Units based on greenhouse gas emission reductions and VCUs based on CO2 removals along with labels that identify credits authorized for use under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
CO2 removal, or CDR, which refer to climate mitigation strategies that remove CO2 emissions from the atmosphere, as opposed to strategies to avoid such emissions, are poised to become a huge market.
CDR, however, currently encompasses a wide array of approaches, including direct air capture coupled with durable storage, soil carbon sequestration, biomass carbon removal and storage, enhanced mineralization, ocean-based CDR, and afforestation/reforestation, making it tougher to standardize.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement sets out the rules for global trade in GHG emissions reductions and will have a critical impact on voluntary carbon credit markets.
The VCS is the world's most widely used GHG crediting program, and is considered to be the core document that determines how Verra assesses carbon projects and issues credits.
Like Verra, the VCS has also come under sharp criticism in recent years, with several academics and media reports questioning the efficacy of the program's carbon offsets.
These integrity and quality concerns have triggered a sharp fall in both liquidity and prices of carbon credits.
Verra also said it had strengthened the Integrity of the program by including enhanced environmental and social safeguards, increased non-permanence risk withholdings that account for future climate change, and sanction procedures and a reinstatement fee for validation/verification bodies that do not conform with VCS program or accreditation requirements.
Verra, which has emerged as a key entity in the voluntary carbon markets, has endured a difficult few months, with its work having come under intense scrutiny.
In mid-August, Verra warned that a new set of academic studies querying the integrity of forest-based carbon credits were about to be released, adding to a growing chorus of reports criticizing the voluntary carbon market.
Verra has always defended its work, saying it is "constantly updating and strengthening" the Verified Carbon Standard, based on the latest science and data, while acknowledging that the mounting scrutiny on the VCM was "essential and necessary".
It is also in the midst of overhauling its REDD+ methodology, as it looks to improve the and quality of its forest carbon offsets. The final version of the new consolidated REDD+ methodology will be unveiled early in the fourth quarter.
Prices of several carbon credits have continued to languish at low levels despite a series of quality initiatives in recent months.
Platts CNC, an assessment that reflects the most competitive nature-based carbon credit prices, stood at $2.85/mtCO2e Aug. 29, up from an all-time low of $1.05/mtC02e on May 31 to June 8, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed. Platts CNC assessment averaged $9.55/mtCO2e in 2022.