Carbon standards

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  Social Carbon

  The Social Carbon Standard was published in 2008, after almost a decade of development by the Ecologica Institute in Brazil. The carbon standard establishes criteria for monitoring the social gains of projects and is used in conjunction with other carbon offset standards – such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard – which measure emissions reductions.

  When the Social Carbon Standard is applied to a project, it is assessed against six resource indicators - biodiversity, natural, financial, social and carbon - to produce a baseline or ‘Point Zero’ report. Improvement goals are then established which must include input from local stakeholders. Each subsequent verification assesses the project’s performance against the resource indicators and to maintain award of the standard, the project must demonstrate ongoing contribution to sustainable development.
  http://www.socialcarbon.com/en/

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  Green-e Climate

  The Green-e Climate programme was initiated by the Centre for Resource Solutions (CRS), a non-profit organisation based in California. It is the first carbon standard programme for carbon credits sold to consumers on the retail market.

  The programme ensures retailers purchase and retire correct volumes of carbon credits on behalf of customers alongside a clear chain of custody. The Green-e Climate programme requires carbon credits to be independently certified to ensure that they are real, measurable and additional. To qualify for Green-e Climate certification there must be a full disclosure of project information to protect customers from false or misleading claims.
  http://www.green-e.org/getcert_ghg_intro.shtml

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  The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA)

  The CCBA has developed a voluntary standard to help design and evaluate land management projects that mitigate climate change while supporting sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.

  The Alliance is a leading partnership of private sector companies, NGOs and research institutes and validation of projects is carried out by an approved third party auditor to meet the requirements of the CCB standard.
  www.climate-standards.org

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  The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

  The CDM was developed as a carbon standard in 1997 following the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Credits – or Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) - are generated through emissions reduction projects in the developing world and are largely used by countries with Kyoto emissions caps to meet their targets.

  Projects are qualified through a rigorous, public registration and issuance process which ensures emissions reductions are real, measurable, verifiable and additional to a ‘business as usual’ scenario.
  http://cdm.unfccc.int/index.html

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  Gold Standard (GS)

  The Gold Standard Foundation is a non-profit organisation which operates a carbon standard certification scheme for both Kyoto based CDM and Voluntary market credits. The Gold Standard trademark represents premium quality carbon credits which have actively contributed to sustainable development.

  Only renewable energy and end-use efficiency projects can register for Gold Standard and all certified credits have undergone rigorous third party validation and verification.  All approved projects must be registered in the Gold Standard online registry, ensuring a transparent chain of custody, from issuance through to retirement.
  http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org/

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  The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS)

  The VCS is the leading, global carbon standard for the approval of credible, voluntary offsets. The standard was founded in 2006 by The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association, the World Economic Forum and later joined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

  The VCS programme ensures all carbon credits are real, measurable, additional, permanent, independently verified, unique and traceable. All approved projects are registered in the VCS’ online registry, ensuring a transparent chain of custody, from issuance through to retirement. In November 2008, the standard integrated guidelines on Agriculture, Forestry and other land-use (AFOLU) projects.
  www.v-c-s.org

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  The Climate Action Reserve (CAR)

  The Climate Action Reserve—successor to the California Climate Action Registry—was launched in 2008 to provide integrity and transparency to the US carbon market. It issues carbon credits – known as Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs) - and tracks the transactions in a publicly accessible system.

  The Reserve’s standards ensure that GHG reductions generated by projects are real, permanent verifiable, enforceable and additional. All approved projects must be registered in the CAR online registry, ensuring a transparent chain of custody, from issuance through to retirement.
  www.climateactionreserve.org