The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) program is the world's most widely used greenhouse gas (GHG) certification program. It incentivizes funding for activities that eliminate these emissions., improve the lives of communities, and protect nature. Projects certified to the VCS standard have reduced or removed more than one billion tons of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. VCS is a vital and evolving element of the global effort to protect our shared environment.

By combining scientific rigor, project transparency, and an innovative approach, the VCS program has successfully brought a large number of organizations and individuals into the new voluntary carbon market. It also successfully supports the growing number of markets with mandatory regulations, providing participants with the necessary certainty in the transactions they make.

Why carbon markets?

Individuals, companies or organizations often cannot completely eliminate their greenhouse gas emissions in the short term. Purchasing carbon sources on a voluntary basis allows them to effectively offset emissions, thereby achieving a market credit in the short term. It means more than just paying another entity to reduce or eliminate the removal of emissions from the atmosphere. VCS certified projects also bring broader sustainable development benefits to communities – including access to health facilities, education and services that improve quality of life. To ensure that organizations purchasing credits have confidence that their investment will achieve the intended environmental and social impact, many of them choose to purchase credits issued under the auspices of the VCS Verra program. The consistency and transparency that Verra certifies are the foundation of the successful results of certified carbon projects.

Carbon credit sellers prefer markets with quality assurance controls as they provide a stable pool of collaborators. The Verra VCS program ensures the high quality and integrity of all certified projects.

Why choose VCS?

Thanks to Verra's consistency, reliability and transparency, buyers of VCS-issued credits have the confidence that their investment has delivered the declared positive result. Carbon credit sellers also appreciate the quality of the programs provided, which provide reliable guarantees.

The VCS program has become the largest worldwide program due to its strict rules and requirements, its ability to flexibly respond to new scientific, technological and regulatory developments, and the transparency of all registered projects. Information is available through Verra's public registry.

These features of the program ensure that the reduction or removal of greenhouse gases is real, measurable, additional (i.e., beyond normal activities), permanent, subject to independent verification, proven conservative, uniquely identifiable, and transparently reported (VCS program quality assurance principles).

The VCS program is officially supported and approved by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) and Code of Best Practices ICROA (ICROA Code of Best Practice).

How does the VCS program work?

Verra’s VCS program sets out clearly defined rules that must be met in order to be certified and generate carbon credits. Each required project undergoes a valid process of independent review and verification, carried out by external, accredited auditing entities. This makes VCS projects a robust process for a wide range of stakeholders, including government organizations, investors, businesses, NGOs and community organizations.

Upon successful completion of these verification approval processes, projects are awarded specific carbon credits (“Verified Carbon Units” – VCU). One VCU is equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions that the project is currently releasing into or has effectively removed from the atmosphere. Each VCU is assigned a unique identification number in the Verra registry to prevent duplicate reporting or re-selling of the same credits.

The contribution of the VCS program to sustainability and development

The VCS program not only ensures the reduction or elimination of all greenhouse gas emissions, but also directly contributes to complementing the ultimate goals of sustainable development defined by the United Nations (UN). VCS projects support the protection of biodiversity, the creation of sustainable employment opportunities, the prudent management of often natural resources, as well as the improvement of local communities, including the improvement of their social and economic conditions.

Thanks to these broader positive effects, purchasers of VCU units of companies gain in particular to increase examples of their organizations' contributions, support local development and promote social awareness.

Verra's role in market transparency and integrity

Register projects, their nature, methodology and issuance of carbon credits are fully transparent and publicly available with the VCS program. Data on all certified projects can be found in Verra's online registry, where all relevant documents and certificates are available, as well as information on the generation and sale of carbon credits.

This transparency will enable potential energy in the carbon credit market to be harnessed by investment-oriented investors and stakeholders in making choices.

Global reach and recognition of the VCS program

The VCS program currently certifies thousands of projects worldwide and plays a significant role in the international effort to address the climate crisis. VCS certification is recognized and supported by a wide range of governmental and international organizations, corporations, banks, foundations, NGOs and specialized groups as a key tool for achieving the climate commitments agreed upon in the Paris Agreement.

With its scientific rigor, proven methodologies, transparent administrative procedures and global recognition, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) represents a reliable system for achieving environmental and social goals on a global level.

Choosing VCS means using the highest standard of quality and assurance in the carbon markets. Verra, the company behind this standard, actively supports the continuous improvement of the certification process and pushes the boundaries of how individuals, companies and organizations can participate in solving global climate challenges. Spring