Carbon offset registry Verra has launched its Scope 3 Standard (S3S) Programme, establishing an independent framework to quantify, verify, and certify climate action projects conducted within corporate supply chains.
The platform enables project proponents to issue Scope 3 Units (S3Us), with each unit representing one tonne of CO2 equivalent reduced or removed inside a corporate value chain. Operating alongside Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program, the framework allows eligible projects to issue either S3Us or traditional carbon credits to expand financing options.
The launch of Version 1 permits project developers to list initiatives on the Verra Registry using an initial set of adapted VCS methodologies covering improved agricultural land management and low-carbon concrete production. Subsequent updates will open formal registration, validation, and verification to enable initial S3U issuances, with future expansions planned across forestry, industrial fuels, super-pollutants, and refrigeration.
Key operational features and framework integrations include:
- Value chain focus: Addresses indirect emissions that typically constitute over 75 per cent of corporate carbon footprints across global supply chains.
- Pilot phase collaborators: Developed following pilot testing from 2022 to 2026 involving more than 100 stakeholders, including Bayer, Patagonia, 3Degrees, Klim GmbH, Rabobank, 3M, Diageo, and Sodexo.
- Framework compatibility: Designed to complement established reporting guidelines, including the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), ISO 14060, the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform, and the Taskforce for Corporate Action Transparency (TCAT).
- Reporting integration: Version 2 will introduce specific requirements for demonstrating a corporate entity’s supply-chain connection to impacted products, allowing companies to utilize verified reportable units for public greenhouse gas reporting.
Mandy Rambharos, Chief Executive Officer of Verra, stated: “For years, the environmental community has debated whether climate action projects belong in Scope 3 accounting and related claims at all. Companies, meanwhile, have had the ambition to act in this space regardless. What they haven’t had is a credible, independent way to account for and report on the impacts of their actions, which is key to driving finance to this type of climate action.”
She added: “The VCS Program taught us what it takes to build a standards program the market can rely on. The Scope 3 Standard Program applies that same discipline to in-value-chain emission reductions and removals, using harmonized accounting and reporting guidance, as well as a tracking system.”
