Verra has issued the first carbon credits carrying the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label under its Improved Forest Management methodology, VM0045, which was recently approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
VM0045 — Improved Forest Management Using Dynamic Matched Baselines from National Forest Inventories — introduces a new approach to forest carbon accounting by using continuously updated national forest inventory data to create real-world, dynamic baselines.
The first issuance under the methodology went to the Family Forest Carbon Program – Central Appalachia project, developed by the American Forest Foundation (AFF) with support from The Nature Conservancy. The project received 18,326 Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) under VM0045 version 1.2. Although the project was initially designed under version 1.1, AFF voluntarily transitioned to the updated version following ICVCM approval.
The project is seen as a demonstration of how VM0045 can expand access to voluntary carbon markets for small landowners, who have traditionally faced barriers due to high costs and technical requirements.
Verra CEO Mandy Rambharos said: “This is a powerful example of how innovation and integrity can work hand-in-hand to unlock new opportunities for forest stewardship… We’re proud to see CCP-labelled credits being generated by a project that puts family forest owners at the centre of the solution.”
VM0045 currently relies on the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database, but Verra says the methodology is globally applicable and can be adapted for use with national forest inventories in other countries. Work is underway to expand eligible datasets beyond the United States.
