Carbon project standards

Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS)

The VCS is a global benchmark standard for project-based, voluntary, greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals. VCS was developed by The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and a range of business, government and non-government organizations. The current version of the standard – VCS 2007 – was released in November 2007 after two years of drafting, public input, and revisions.
 
Projects qualify for VCS after being validated against the standard’s requirements by an accredited third-party. Climate Action Reserve offsets may also be converted to VCS offsets.  The validation rules under VCS are as robust as those of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). TerraPass quantifies its VCS offsets using either CDM methodologies (such as the CDM Landfill Protocol and the CDM Renewable Energy Protocol) or the Climate Action Reserve protocols noted below.

When TerraPass uses VCS for registering offsets, you can see project listings and our submittals in the VCS registry, which will be posted on the web later this year.

Climate Action Reserve

The Climate Action Reserve is a national offsets program focused on ensuring environmental benefit, integrity and transparency in the US carbon market. It does this by establishing high-quality standards for quantifying and verifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects, overseeing independent third-party verification bodies, issuing carbon credits generated from such projects and tracking the credits over time in a transparent, publicly-accessible system.

TerraPass uses the CAR Landfill Protocol and the CAR Livestock Protocol, and may use other protocols in the future. 

When TerraPass uses the Climate Action Reserve for registering offsets, you can view project listings and our submittals on the Climate Action Reserve website.

Previous Standards

From 2004 through 2007, TerraPass' primary offset standard and tracking mechanism was the Chicago Climate Exchange. The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) was launched in 2003 and was the first active, voluntary but legally binding greenhouse gas emission offset trading system. Members of the CCX sign binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and report their emissions annually to verify compliance. CCX members may also purchase offsets listed on the exchange to meet their compliance obligations. TerraPass purchased CCX offsets and retired them on behalf of our customers. We used bi-lateral trades directly with the offset sellers to ensure the quality of each offset we purchased.

During this time, TerraPass used CCX' Landfill Protocol, Agricultural Methane Protocol, and Renewable Energy Protocol. In 2008, we transitioned to the Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Climate Action Reserve.

From 2004 through 2007, TerraPass' primary offset standard and tracking mechanism for renewable energy was the Center for Resource Solutions' Green-e Renewable Energy Credit program. This program enabled TerraPass to purchase RECs which were certified as voluntary, which were not double-counted or double-sold, and which were vintage-controlled. TerraPass supplemented the Green-e Certification with a translation from megawatt-hours to metric tons of CO2e based on EPA data; our calculations were audited at the end of the each year. CRS replaced this program with the Green-e Energy and Green-e Climate programs in 2008.

During 2008, we made use of the recently published Renewable Energy Protocol to define how we source and translate Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) into carbon offsets. Specifically, we purchased RECs from facilities deemed eligible according to this Protocol, and as part of our annual audit will hire supplemental third-party verifiers to confirm that our purchases have been retired on a Renewable Energy tracking system, that they are of the correct vintage, that we have correctly converted megawatt hours into carbon dioxide equivalent, and that our contracts ensure we have full title to the RECs so they cannot be used to comply with any regulatory requirements or used in other voluntary purchase programs.

When we publish our annual portfolio audit, we will also publish the verifier's report on our web site and provide a link to the Renewable Energy Tracking System that houses the project's listing. Note that TerraPass is not a Seller of Green-e Climate Certified products and our use of this Protocol in no way connects us to the Green-e Climate program. We believe this Protocol serves as an excellent carbon offset protocol for US-based renewable energy projects and we have used it as our purchasing standard for that reason.