Carbon standards body Verra has suspended four validation and verification bodies (VVBs) following their involvement in a series of rejected rice cultivation projects in China. The firms – China Classification Society Certification Company (CCSC), China Quality Certification Centre (CQC), CTI Certification Co., Ltd., and TÜV Nord Cert GmbH – were responsible for auditing 37 projects that Verra dismissed late last year due to serious procedural and quality concerns.
The suspension, effective immediately, bars the VVBs from auditing:
- Projects using Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) methodologies under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Programme;
- Projects registered or seeking registration under the AFOLU or Oceans and Marine Resources scopes of the Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta);
- Projects under the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards (CCBS) Programme.
TÜV Nord Cert GmbH’s suspension is limited to projects within China, while the other three VVBs face a global restriction.
“This decision was not made lightly,” said Justin Wheler, Chief Programme Management Officer at Verra. “But our commitment to integrity means upholding the highest standards of quality and trust. Maintaining market confidence must come first. While we recognise the impact on affected projects, ensuring rigorous and credible validations and verifications is critical.”
The decision follows the identification of major issues in the rice cultivation projects, after which the VVBs were issued nonconformance reports and asked to provide corrective measures. Verra found the responses insufficient, prompting the enforcement of suspension measures.
Verra has stated that the suspensions could be lifted if the firms adequately address the concerns raised and satisfy the reinstatement and programme approval criteria.
In the interim, Verra will not accept any new project registrations or issuance requests involving audits conducted by the suspended VVBs. Ongoing submissions within the scope of the suspensions will also be rejected.
Project developers whose initiatives were previously audited by the affected firms have been notified and must now appoint new VVBs. To ease the transition, Verra has waived re-review fees and extended relevant deadlines.
