Verra Launches Scope 3 Standard to Verify Value Chain Climate Projects

Carbon market standards organization Verra announced the launch of its Scope 3 Standard (S3S) Program, a new framework designed to enable companies to quantify, verify and certify the climate impact of projects implemented within their corporate value chains.

Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions generated across a company’s value chain, including suppliers and customers’ use of products, rather than from its own operations, and typically account for the significant majority a company’s total carbon footprint. Verra said that more than 40% of the world’s largest public companies have net zero targets that include Scope 3 emissions, but have lacked an independent, comprehensive system to certify the emission reductions and removals resulting from a company’s investment in value chain climate action.

Founded in 2007, Washington, D.C.-based Verra is a nonprofit organization that develops standards and operates registries for carbon credits and sustainable development programs. The company’s registry forms the central platform for managing and tracking information about projects and credits in Verra’s standards programs, and ensures the uniqueness of projects and credits in the system.

According to Verra, the new S3S platform aims to provide the infrastructure for tracking the impact of value chain emissions reduction projects. Projects under the standard are developed using rigorous accounting methodologies, and are independently validated, with their GHG emissions verified and generating Scope 3 units, representing one tonne of CO2 reduced or removed.

The S3S Program will work alongside Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program, enabling projects to potentially issue either S3Us or standard carbon credits, expanding their financing options and the buyer pool.

Version 1 of the program allows proponents to list projects on the Verra Registry using an initial set of adapted VCS methodologies covering improved agricultural land management and low-carbon concrete production. Additional methodologies will follow as the program expands to new sectors, including forestry, industrial fuels, super-pollutants and refrigeration, the company added.

According to the company, future updates to version 1 will open registration, validation and verification for pipeline-listed projects, enabling the first issuance of S3Us. Version 2 of the program will provide guidance and requirements enabling companies to demonstrate a verified value chain association with a product directly affected by the program and for issuing the corresponding reportable units derived from S3Us for use in Scope 3 emissions reporting.

Verra said that the S3S Program was developed following input from over 100 expert stakeholders who participated in Verra’s Scope 3 Initiative first launched in 2022, and through pilot testing and collaboration with companies and organizations including Bayer, Patagonia, 3Degrees, Klim, American Forest Foundation, Anew Climate, Elanco Animal Health, Rabobank, 12Tree, 3M, Diageo, Lestari Capital, NatureCo and Sodexok, with additional input from organizations such as SustainCERT and corporate partners.

According to the company, the program is designed to be compatible with and complementary to existing corporate climate frameworks, including the Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), ISO Net Zero Aligned Organizations Standard (ISO 14060), the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform, and the Taskforce for Corporate Action Transparency (TCAT).

Mandy Rambharos, Verra CEO, said:

“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.”