Promethium can assist clients in identifying Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER) opportunities and developing these to a stage where the VER credits generated can be sold.
Voluntary Emission Reductions (VERs) are Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions bought by people who wish to offset their emissions on a voluntary basis. VERs are generated under a number of standards like the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard (GS) or VER Plus (VER+).
VERs allow emission-reduction projects to earn VER credits, each equivalent to one ton of CO2. Projects qualify to generate VERs by meeting the requirements of the various VER schemes described above. The emission reduction projects must be additional to what would have occurred without the project.
VERs are used by businesses and individuals to voluntarily offset their emissions to provide an additional contribution to mitigating climate change. Unlike Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), VERs cannot be used, to offset compulsory emission reductions in legislated cap-and-trade schemes.
VERs allow an organisation to:
• Make a quantifiable contribution to reduce emissions.
• Increase response options and flexibility of carbon management.
• Enhance public relations.
• Generate goodwill by entering the carbon market.
• Cement strategic interest in specific offset projects.
• Manage corporate social responsibility commitments.
• Become carbon neutral and/or sell carbon neutral products and services.
Nevertheless caution must be exercised when buying VERs. The VER market is not regulated in the same manner as the CER market. VERs can vary largely in their quality and buyers should make sure that they perform due diligence prior to making a purchasing decision. High quality VERs should be developed according to the principles of the VCS, GS or VER+ which promote sustainable development alongside GHG emission reduction objectives. A VER credit will offset the same amount of GHG as a CER credit – it has just not necessarily gone through the same United Nations approval process as a CER from a CDM project has.
We offer a range of VER-related services which include:
- VER project identification and viability studies;
- All aspects of VER project development;
- System readiness reviews for VER projects approaching and during verification under the VER+, GS or VCS schemes;
- Advisory work on VER monetising strategies;
- Identifying suitable VERs so that clients can become carbon neutral.
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