Verra revising additionality tools in renewables methodologies
Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Verra is overhauling additionality tools in the renewable energy methodologies accepted for use in its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program that have been rejected by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM), it said Tuesday.
All renewable energy methodologies active in the VCS Program, including those rejected by the IC-VCM, are methodologies developed under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Verra said.
"Specifically, the IC-VCM has noted deficiencies in the CDM tools for additionality and the grid factor tool," the registry said.
"Verra is therefore currently revising the CDM additionality tools to address the deficiencies noted by the IC-VCM and will be consulting on these revisions in the coming month," it said.
Earlier Tuesday, the IC-VCM announced that it had rejected eight renewable energy methodologies, accounting for almost one-third of unretired credits in the voluntary carbon market, for approval under its Core Carbon Principles (CCPs), citing additionality concerns.
Verra "still holds that the targeted application of carbon finance in least developed countries (LDCs) is crucial to overcoming barriers that renewable projects face in some jurisdictions", despite excluding most renewable energy projects from the scope of the VCS Program when it launched version 4 in 2019, it said.
The registry's new electricity tool will address the deficiencies noted in the CDM electricity tools, it said, adding that once finalised it will submit the updated tools and methodologies to the IC-VCM for reassessment.
Verra recently launched a consultation on an optional methodology update and requantification procedure, which would enable proponents of existing projects to adopt the updated tools and meet the higher information standards promoted by the IC-VCM and thereby qualify for CCP labels.
Methane approval
The IC-VCM did, however, approve CDM methodology AM0023 Leak detection and repair in gas production, processing, transmission, storage and distribution systems and in refinery facilities Version 4.0.0 as meeting the CCPs for projects' first crediting periods.
"In accordance with this decision, Verra has applied CCP labels to 23.4 million Verified Carbon Units (VCUs), almost 19.5 million of which are active," the registry said.
The CCPs, a set of 10 principles that provide guidance on what constitutes a "quality" carbon offset, were launched by the IC-VCM in March 2023 aimed at restoring confidence in the project-based carbon market after a string of controversies and scandals.
In June, IC-VCM announced the first seven carbon credit methodologies that qualify for the CCP label, covering landfill gas and the destruction of refrigerant gases.
Unretired credits approved under the CCP system now total around 27 million, or 3.6% of the VCM, according to IC-VCM estimates, while the eight rejected renewables methodologies cover around 236 million unretired credits, or 32% of the VCM.
