VCS

VCS
Verified Carbon Standard, Verra or VCS, formerly the Voluntary Carbon Standard, is a
standard for certifying carbon emissions reductions. VCS is administered by Verra, a 501(c)
not-for-profit organization.
On February 15, 2018, the organization that maintains the Verified Carbon Standard
changed its name from Verified Carbon Standard to Verra.
Projects certified against the VCS Program’s rigorous set of rules and requirements are
issued tradable GHG credits (Verified Carbon Units, or VCUs) which can then be sold on the
open market and retired by individuals and companies as a means to offset their own
emissions. Over time, this flexibility channels financing to clean, innovative businesses and
technologies.
Almost 1500 certified VCS projects have collectively reduced or

removed more than 200 million tonnes of carbon and other GHG
emissions from the atmosphere.
Carbon credits accredited by Verra are globally recognised, and are an eligible offset under
the Australian Federal Government’s National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS).
In 2023, an investigation by The Guardian, Die Zeit, and SourceMaterial, a non-profit

investigative journalism outlet, found that about 94% of the rainforest carbon offsets provided by
Verra are worthless and that the standard may worsen global heating. [5]
In2005, carbon markets investment advisory firm Climate Wedge and its partner Cheyne Capital
designed and drafted the first version (version 1.0) of the Voluntary Carbon Standard, intended
as a quality standard for transacting and developing "non-Kyoto" Protocol carbon credits, namely
voluntary carbon emissions reductions from greenhouse gas reduction projects that met the
quality and verification standards of the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) carbon offset mechanism, but were not eligible due to geographic or timing
constraints of the Kyoto rulebook (e.g. carbon offset projects in the USA, Hong Kong, Turkey, etc
that were not eligible for the CDM).[citation needed]
In March 2006, Climate Wedge and Cheyne Capital transferred the Voluntary Carbon Standard
version 1.0 to The Climate Group, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and World
Economic Forum, and provided the initial sponsor capital for these non-profit organizations to
subsequently convene a team of global carbon market experts to further draft the VCS
requirements. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) joined later
on. The team later formed the VCS Steering Committee, which worked to draft the second and
subsequent versions of the VCS Standard.
In 2008, the Board of Directors named David Antonioli the organization’s first Chief Executive
Officer. In 2009, VCS incorporated in Washington D.C. as a non-profit non-governmental
organization.[citation needed]
On February 15, 2018, the organization that maintains the Verified Carbon Standard changed its
name from Verified Carbon Standard to Verra.[6]
the standard is under a continual process of amendment in alignment with the latest scientific
best practice and in support of government-led efforts to halt deforestation.
At one of Verra's project sites in Peru, residents complained about being forcefully evicted from
their homes, which were then demolished. The investigation was based on two peer-
reviewed studies, one by a group of University of Cambridge scientists and the other from a team
of international researchers.[5] Verra denied the claims, criticizing the methodology of the studies
as flawed and unrepresentative of the actual conditions of the projects. [8]
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR), also known as carbon removal, greenhouse gas

removal (GGR) or negative emissions, is a process in which carbon dioxide gas (CO2) is
removed from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities and durably stored in geological,
terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.[3]: 2221
Achieving net zero emissions will require both deep cuts in emissions and the use of CDR. CDR
can counterbalance emissions that are technically difficult to eliminate, such as some agricultural
and industrial emissions.[6]: 114
CDR methods include afforestation, reforestation, agricultural practices that sequester carbon in

soils (carbon farming), wetland restoration and blue carbon approaches, bioenergy with carbon
capture and storage (BECCS), ocean fertilization, ocean alkalinity enhancement,[7] and direct air
capture when combined with storage,[8]: 115
Technologies have been proposed for removing non-CO2 greenhouse gases such as methane
from the atmosphere,[13] but only carbon dioxide is currently feasible to remove at scale.
[11]
Therefore in most contexts, greenhouse gas removal means carbon dioxide removal.
The terms geoengineering or climate engineering are no longer used in IPCC reports.[3]
Emissions that are difficult to eliminate include nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture, [6]:
114
aviation emissions,[10]: 3 and some industrial emissions.[6]: 114 In climate change
mitigation strategies, the use of CDR counterbalances those emissions. [6]: 114
backstop drastically misrepresents their current capacities and the likely pace of research
progress.[10]
These biological stores are considered volatile carbon sinks as the long-term sequestration
cannot be guaranteed. For example, natural events, such as wildfires or disease, economic
pressures and changing political priorities can result in the sequestered carbon being released
back into the atmosphere.[23]
The following is a list of known CDR methods in the order of their technology readiness
level (TRL). The ones at the top have a high TRL of 8 to 9 (9 being the maximum possible value,
meaning the technology is proven), the ones at the bottom have a low TRL of 1 to 2, meaning the
technology is not proven or only validated at laboratory scale. [8]: 115
1. Afforestation/ reforestation
2. Soil carbon sequestration in croplands and grasslands
3. Peatland and coastal wetland restoration
4. Agroforestry, improved forest management
5. Biochar carbon removal (BCR)
6. Direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), bioenergy with carbon capture
and storage (BECCS)
7. Enhanced weathering (alkalinity enhancement)
8. ‘Blue carbon management’ in coastal wetlands (restoration of vegetated coastal
ecosystems; an ocean-based biological CDR method which
encompasses mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass beds)
9. Ocean fertilisation, ocean alkalinity enhancement that amplifies the Oceanic
carbon cycle
Our project comes under top 4 lists
As trees grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in living biomass, dead organic
matter and soils. Afforestation and reforestation – sometimes referred to collectively as
‘forestation’ – facilitate this process of carbon removal by establishing or re-establishing forest
areas. It takes forests approximately 10 years to ramp- up to the maximum sequestration rate. [25]:
26–28

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VCS

Almost 1500 certified VCS projects have collectively reduced or

In 2023, an investigation by The Guardian, Die Zeit, and SourceMaterial, a non-profit

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR), also known as carbon removal, greenhouse gas

CDR methods include afforestation, reforestation, agricultural practices that sequester carbon in

The terms geoengineering or climate engineering are no longer used in IPCC reports.[3]

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