Additional Environmental Integrity Safeguards

Please note the following requirements for the following specific project types:

Renewable Energy Projects

Only carbon credits from the following renewable energy projects will be allowed:

Projects that use offshore wind technology, or waste-to-energy technology

Projects that are linked with energy storage systems

Projects outside of (1) and (2), but come from (i) Least Developed Countries (LDC), (ii) micro-grids that are not linked to national grids, or (iii) lower middle income countries with less than 5% of the said renewable technology deployed in national grid at the point of registration or renewal

*Renewable energy projects refer to projects that (i) generate and deliver energy services (e.g. mechanical, work, electricity, heat) from non-fossil fuel and renewable energy sources, or (ii) comprise of renewable energy generation units (e.g. solar PV, tidal/wave, wind, hydro, geothermal, waste-to-energy, renewable biomass) that are supplying energy or electricity.

** Definition of LDC is based on United Nations’ definition; Definition of lower middle income countries is based on World Bank’s definition.

Methodologies using fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB) values [Published on 22 Jun 2026, with immediate effect]

For all projects that require the use of fNRB (regardless of credit vintage), the fNRB shall be either:

(a) Derived from Modelling Fuelwood Savings Scenarios (MoFuSS) model, or

(b) Based on the latest UNFCCC Default Values found in the “Fraction of non-renewable biomass” methodological tool accepted under Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM-6.4)

Where the host country and/or carbon crediting programmes have separate fNRB requirements, the most conservative value (amongst (i) the value determined under (a) or (b) above, (ii) the applicable host country value and (iii) programme-allowed value) shall apply.

Forestry Conservation (i.e., REDD+)

All forestry projects are required to:

Use nested baseline or be part of a jurisdictional programme to address concerns over leakage and non-additionality due to policy; and

Not use baseline that incorporates High Forest-Low Deforestation-related incentive factor

In addition, please note the following requirements for VM0010, VM0047 and VM0048.

For the reporting of reversals, all projects must be part of an independent monitoring mechanism (a) or (b) or be validated with data from an independent source (c):

(a) Projects under a jurisdictional proponent of a public-private partnership (e.g. Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ or JNR);

(b) Verra’s programme-level system (e.g. Long-Term Monitoring system) when it becomes operational in 2026; or

(c) Verification against available resources on deforestation/reversals (e.g. national inventories/Global Forest Watch)

Project developers shall conduct an additionality re-assessment at every credit issuance tranche if more than 5 years have elapsed after the first additionality test. For VM0047, this will apply as a financial additionality re-assessment for projects generating alternative revenue.

[For VM0010] Project developers shall provide a combination of information on actual commercial harvesting operations and long-term harvesting commitments to better inform additionality assessments.

[For VM0010] Project developers shall conduct baseline validity assessments at every credit issuance tranche if baseline was last assessed more than 5 years ago.

[For VM0010] Project developers shall conduct market leakage validity assessment and disclosure of no international activity shifting leakage at each credit issuance tranche. Project developers are expected to:

(i) Justify that ex-ante leakage factors remain valid (e.g. by referencing open-source data such as FAO Forest Resource Assessment, national inventory, regional/ national harvest reports for ex-post harvest patterns);

(ii) Demonstrate unlikely international market leakage (e.g. by referencing open-source trade databases like UN Comtrade); and

(iii) Demonstrate that harvesting has not been reallocated to similar forest types if the PD (including parent companies and sister subsidiaries) controls similar forest resources locally or overseas.

[For VM0047] Project start date should be within 5 years of validation to show criticality of carbon revenue and additionality.

[For VM0047] Credits generated from project to apply the ABACUS label, which requires projects to effectively maintain or enhance agricultural production in the project area and surrounding landscape to prevent leakage, amongst other safeguards.

[For VM0048] To timely identify crediting and leakage risks in between map updates by Verra, project developers shall perform an ex-post analysis of the baseline at every credit issuance tranche.

Project developers can provide justifications if they are unable to meet the above safeguards.