Verra launches a standard to verify climate projects inside corporate supply chains

Carbon market standards body Verra has launched its Scope 3 Standard Program, a new framework letting companies quantify, verify, and certify the climate impact of projects carried out within their corporate value chains rather than their own direct operations. Scope 3 emissions, the indirect emissions generated by suppliers and by customers' use of a company's products, typically make up the large majority of a company's total carbon footprint. Verra says more than 40% of the world's largest public companies have net-zero targets that include Scope 3 emissions, but until now have lacked an independent system to certify reductions achieved through value-chain investments.

The new program will run alongside Verra's existing Verified Carbon Standard, giving project developers the option to issue either standard carbon credits or a new "Scope 3 unit," each representing one tonne of carbon dioxide reduced or removed, expanding financing options and the pool of potential buyers. The first version covers adapted methodologies for improved agricultural land management and low-carbon concrete production, with additional sectors including forestry, industrial fuels, and refrigeration to follow.

Verra developed the standard with input from more than 100 expert stakeholders and pilot testing with companies including Bayer, Patagonia, 3M, and Diageo. "The Verified Carbon Standard Program taught us what it takes to build a standards program the market can rely on," said Verra chief executive Mandy Rambharos. "The Scope 3 Standard Program applies that same discipline to in-value-chain emission reductions and removals."

Based on reporting by Kenny Fisher for ESG Today. Read the original: https://www.esgtoday.com/verra-launches-scope-3-standard-program-to-verify-value-chain-climate-projects/