VCS program and VCU
VCS is established by the non-profit organization Veera, and it does not need the approval of any national authority. The organization is jointly developed by climate group (CG), International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and World Economic Forum (WEF). Its purpose is to help solve the most intractable environmental problems and social challenges in the world by formulating and managing standards to help the private sector, the state and civil society achieve sustainable development and climate action goals.
The VCS program is the most widely used voluntary resource greenhouse gas emission reduction program in the world, which allows certified projects to convert their greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals into tradable carbon credits (VCU), with one VCU representing the reduction or removal of one ton of greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. VCU is purchased and retired by end users as a means to offset its emissions, fulfill its social responsibilities and enhance its corporate image.
VCU can only be issued to enterprises or organizations, and individuals cannot register accounts and obtain VCU. Enterprises or organizations can use VCU to conduct transactions in their accounts, but transactions can only be conducted between Verra's registered accounts, and cannot be transferred to other databases or traded as paper certificates.
At the same time, it should be pointed out that Verra is neutral in VCU transactions and does not hold, trade or solicit VCU transactions. All parties involved in VCU transactions need to conduct due diligence and independently assess the transaction risk. Therefore, the VCS plan requires that the project must be independent, unique, permanent, real and additional (non-daily business activities).
Veera official website screenshot
In the recent 17 years, Verra has provided various innovative solutions to environmental and social problems, and also brought large-scale investment and support to related projects, effectively promoting climate action and sustainable development achievements, so its development standards and projects are widely trusted around the world.
Verra official website shows that VCS plans to register 18 18 as of today (August 10), and * * * certify and issue 1 100 million VCU.
The VCS project covers many fields, including energy, chemical industry, transportation, renewable energy and so on. Forestry carbon sequestration projects include agriculture, forestry and other land use fields. There are nearly 100 registered VCS forestry carbon sequestration projects in China, including forest farm carbon sequestration projects in Anle County, Jiangxi Province, afforestation projects in Qinghai Province, afforestation projects in Yingjing County, Sichuan Province, afforestation projects in Xiguan County, Guizhou Province, and afforestation projects in northern and northwestern Hunan Province. 20 17 12.25, the first VCS forestry carbon sink project in Fujian province was signed.
VCS overlay map
VCS project operation process
The forestry carbon sequestration projects of VCS are mainly divided into three categories, namely afforestation, reforestation and vegetation restoration (ARR) projects, forest management (IFM) projects and returning farmland to forests (REDD) projects. All VCS projects must complete a rigorous development and evaluation process before registering the VCS plan.
In addition, according to the database standard of VCS project, international carbon sinks can only be traded after being certified by FSC (Forest Stewardship Committee) and monitored by CEC.
According to the report of China Banking Magazine, the state-owned forest farm in Shunchang County, Fujian Province has obtained the double certification of FSC and CFCC (Sustainable Forest Management in China). This means that all forest products of the forest farm can be exported to any country and region in the world, including the European Union and the United States, and thus transformed into economic benefits, which is a breakthrough exploration of the value transformation of forest ecological products in northern Fujian in line with international standards.
Source: Network
It should be noted that photovoltaic projects can apply for registration, but there are restrictions. According to Zhao Binghuai, a researcher in the trading business department of Tianjin Emissions Exchange, Verra stipulated in the updated VCS plan in June 2022 that photovoltaic projects for grid-connected power generation cannot apply for emission reduction projects of VCS, but photovoltaic projects in off-grid microgrids meet the VCS plan.
I also arranged the development steps of the VCS project for you.
1
Methodological choice
The project leader can choose the methodology suitable for his own project. VCS provides methods for projects in energy, mining, forestry, agriculture, waste disposal and other industries.
The project needs to select the applicable methods through VCS standards or other standards such as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Climate Action Reserve (CAR).
2
Project description and publicity
The project owner shall prepare a project description and submit it to the VCS project development list for publicity, indicating that the project meets all requirements of VCS standards and methods. As long as the project approval is completed within the time required by VCS standards, the specification can be written after the project starts. At the same time, the owner needs to publicize the project in the project library being developed by VCS, that is, introduce the declared project development in the VCS project database.
three
have a project registered and authorized
Project owners need to hire an independent third-party audit institution that has passed the examination and approval to examine and approve their projects.
All project descriptions must be verified in strict accordance with VCS rules and requirements, and the project can only be registered after submitting the project verification report.
four
Emission reduction certification
The project owner needs to monitor and record key data related to project implementation, such as emission reduction, and make a monitoring report. The third party will verify the emission reduction in the monitoring report and issue a report.
five
Issuance of certified emission reductions
Finally, the project owner applies for emission reduction.
The VCS registry will review the integrity of its project documents. Qualified projects can get corresponding emission reduction. Owners can hold, sell or write off emission reductions according to demand.
At present, VCS project has many practices in China. In addition to forestry carbon sequestration projects, mangrove carbon sequestration projects and panda base carbon sequestration afforestation projects have also been carried out. This not only protects the vegetation forest, but also creates economic benefits. Especially for villages located in mountainous areas, the pace of building a green beautiful countryside is accelerating, and the living standards of mountain village residents have also been improved.
/kloc-In June of 0/5, in order to develop forest and grass carbon sinks, Sichuan Province formulated the Plan for Promoting the Development of Forest and Grass Carbon Sequestration in Sichuan Province (2022-2025) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), which pointed out that 50-6,544 pilot counties whose projects have been registered (put on record) by the competent authorities of international and domestic carbon credit markets will be compensated by awards.
It can be seen that VCS plays an important role in the development of forestry carbon sequestration in China, and cash rewards also promote the integration of domestic carbon sequestration projects with the world. In the future, CCER and CVS will go hand in hand and become the two major standards of carbon sink projects at home and abroad, and carbon sink transactions will be more diversified and global.