4. What are carbon credit certification programs and their protocols?
Carbon credit certification programs establish all credit certification procedures.
The programs define the eligibility criteria for projects, the rules for monitoring, reporting, and verification, and ensure public registration.
Eligibility criteria and rules for the development and implementation of the first phases of a project
Methodologies for determining additionality and the baseline are included, as well as project acceptance criteria and procedures for validating project activities. The methodologies are described in more detail in “How does the calculation protocol (VCS) used by our projects work?”.
Project monitoring, reporting, verification and certification
The monitoring, reporting, verification, and certification rules ensure that the project was implemented as it was presented in its Project Description (PD).
Certification rules are used to confirm actual greenhouse gas reductions that can enter the market once the project is implemented.
Project registration
Projects are publicly registered even before they are certified. In this registry, it is possible to access all documents related to the steps mentioned above. That is, all the details and documents of the projects are accessible for public consultation from the beginning of their conception.
Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)
The carbon credits from the projects with which Moss works follow all the protocols stipulated by Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) program.
Verra is the largest certifier of carbon credits in the voluntary market, with global recognition, and has been on the market since 2006. It is the most sought-after certification program for REDD/REDD+ projects, issuing more than 57 million VCUs only in the first half of 2022. It is also the most reliable.
Verra's Verified Carbon Unit (VCU) is Verra's VCS-certified carbon credit.
How does the calculation protocol used by our projects (VCS) work?
The calculation follows international protocols, through which specialists identify the amount of tonnes of CO2e that will no longer be issued due to the project area conservation.
The technical foundation of a REDD project is usually done by a multidisciplinary team, composed by specialists in modeling, geoprocessing, and forestry engineers, among others.
The calculation methodologies used by Moss are standardized by VCS. We follow Verra's VM0007 and VM0015 methodologies.
Definition of project boundaries
It involves defining the geographical and temporal limits of the project. It is at this stage that we quantify the carbon stock of the project area, i.e., the amount of carbon present in:
Above-ground biomass
Below-ground biomass
Deadwood
Burlap
Organic matter in the soil.
To proceed with the Forest Inventory, it is necessary to measure the height and diameter of the trees and identify the species of a significant sample of the forest. With this, we determined the volume of biomass (trunks, branches, leaves, and roots) in the total area.
Definition of the baseline scenario
The baseline scenario represents what would happen to that area if the project was not implemented there. For this, we need to define what the project activities are, that is, who are the agents of deforestation and how they will occupy the area. Generally, agents of deforestation are: land grabbing, agriculture, livestock, mining, and logging.
To define this, we need to evaluate the behavior of the project region over the last 10 years.
Based on modeling, we define the predicted deforestation rates for that area in the absence of the project and then calculate the amount of GHG that will no longer be emitted through avoided deforestation.
Definition of additionality
A project is additional when it necessarily needs carbon credits to become economically viable.
To verify the additionality of a project, it is necessary to know how profitable the baseline scenario is and compare it with the project scenario without considering the income from the generation of carbon credits.
In this case, for the project to be considered additional, the baseline scenario needs to be the most profitable for the proponent, otherwise, there is no additionality.
An example to better understand additionality is solar energy projects. In the past, the price of plates was higher, which made generating solar energy much more expensive than conventional energy, which brought additionality to this type of project and allowed the generation of carbon credits from them.
When the price of solar panels began to fall, the costs of generating solar energy became competitive and these projects lost their additionality, that is, they no longer needed the incentive of carbon credits to be implemented.
Definition of the project monitoring plan
Monitoring can be carried out by satellites, patrol plans, and forest fire warning systems, among other practices that help prevent deforestation in the project area.
Risk analysis of non-permanence of the project
There is a risk that the protected area will be deforested due to the probability of forest fires, land conflicts, and project cash flow not being favorable to its permanence, among others.
To deal with these risks, the project certifier determines that a part of the project's carbon credits must be deposited in an insurance account called a “pooled buffer account”. This secure account serves even if a project does not remain, there is a guarantee that the carbon credit is still valid, given that not all conserved carbon stock was transformed into carbon credits.
Therefore, the REDD/REDD+ methodology contemplates the application of this “buffer”, which can be understood as a security in case the project does not reach the expected reduction. It causes the calculation to estimate the number of carbon credits downwards.
Validation and verification
All calculation steps mentioned above must be described in the Project Description document, the “PD”. All PD information goes through a third-party validation step before the document is registered within Verra. At this stage, all the work carried out is revisited and confirmed by a company among those indicated by the certifier.
After that, the project is implemented on the land. After a certain time after project implementation, whoever carried out its proposal must hire a third-party verifier.
The validation step only considers the part described in the PD, while verification involves going to the project site and verifying that what was proposed in the PD was implemented in practice.
There are several monitoring and verification methodologies to assess the behavior of the region and generate the report. Carbon credits are only issued after approval of the project audition by a third party.
It is important to point out that the issuance of carbon credits is done periodically and is, likewise, subject to project periodic audits. At each audit, new carbon credits are released, which are proportional to the advance in deforestation that would have occurred in that region if there had not been a REDD project there. Thus, the entire GHG value estimated in the baseline of the projects is distributed among the years of the project's existence.
Verra’s CCB (Climate, Community, and Biodiversity) Standard
The CCB is a good practice stamp that identifies land use projects that are climate-friendly, support local communities and conserve biodiversity.
It does not offer methodologies for calculating carbon credits, but it is a stamp given to a project, serving to evaluate additional benefits of the projects.
Its purpose is to verify whether the best planning and management practices have been adopted and whether the distribution of socio-environmental benefits from a carbon project is adequate.
It can be applied to land use management projects, including those that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by preventing forest degradation and that sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
As it is proof of good practices, a project can be certified as such in any stage of development, either from the start or while in progress.
The criteria of the CCB Rules guarantee that the projects:
Identify all stakeholders and ensure their full and effective participation
Recognize and respect customary and statutory rights
Obtain free, prior, and informed consent
Assess and monitor direct and indirect costs, benefits, and risks
Identify and maintain high conservation values
Demonstrate positive net benefits for climate, community, and biodiversity
Territory management
Recognize that sustainable development involves managing land use in all parts of the world.
Small producers
Improve livelihoods, create jobs, and secure land and resource ownership.
Local communities
Guarantee the right to prior, free, and informed consultation. Recognize traditions and customary rights and strengthen the livelihoods of populations that depend on the standing forest.
Biodiversity
Guarantee the conservation of animal and plant species, including those with high conservation value, such as the endemic species of the Amazon, that is, those that only occur in this Biome, and those threatened with extinction. In addition, conserving biodiversity ensures the maintenance of ecosystem functioning (e.g., nutrient cycling) and the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration).
The CCB program project registration system can be accessed at: https://registry.verra.org/app/search/CCB
References
Verified Carbon Standard - Verra
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