Verra launches ABACUS label for carbon credits generated by ecosystem restoration

Verra, the nonprofit standards-setter for the voluntary carbon market, has unveiled its new ABACUS market label. This label signifies exceptional quality for carbon credits generated by ecosystem restoration and reforestation projects that exceed the requirements of Verra’s rigorous Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR) methodology, VM0047, within the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Programme.

The ABACUS label was developed with input from a consensus-based working group comprising experts from Amazon, Carbon Direct, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Pachama, TerraCarbon, Stanford University, SCS Global Services, and the University of California, Berkeley. Additionally, the recently established Symbiosis Coalition, led by Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, has cited ABACUS (external) as a model for its principles on high-integrity nature-based carbon removals.

“Restoring nature is an important component of fighting climate change, alongside work to reduce carbon from corporate value chains,” said Jamey Mulligan, Head of Carbon Neutralization at Amazon. “ABACUS is making meaningful strides to ensure that investments in this segment will support truly additional, biodiverse, and lasting restoration.”

Ecosystem restoration projects aiming to apply the ABACUS label to their carbon credits must first meet the requirements of Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Programme and VCS Methodology VM0047 Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation.

They must then surpass these standards in several key areas, including dynamic additionality, transparency, permanence and avoided displacement of food production.

Under dynamic additionality, projects must rigorously match and monitor control areas to measure project additionality in real-time. In transparency, projects must publish all inventory measurements, justify modeling approaches, and report on disturbance monitoring annually in the project area. Under permanence, projects must restore to diverse, ecologically appropriate ecosystems and regularly update their carbon stock stabilisation strategy throughout and beyond the crediting period. Additionally, under the avoided displacement of food production projects must maintain or enhance agricultural production in the project area and surrounding landscape.

The ABACUS label is complementary and adds to other market-wide integrity initiatives and labels, such as the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s Core Carbon Principles. Verra will continuously update the ABACUS label to incorporate the latest scientific advancements and technological developments.

“Creating new forests is one of the most powerful and positive steps we can take in the fight against climate change. The ABACUS label will let Verra and our stakeholders test new concepts to further advance carbon credit integrity and quality. And we hope it will expand the market for these cutting-edge greenhouse gas removal credits,” said Judith Simon, president and interim CEO of Verra.

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