The providers of the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) have released final rules for the verification of carbon credits in forestry and agriculture projects, a long-awaited step to ensure the integrity of emissions reductions in the voluntary carbon market.

The finalising of the agriculture, forestry and other land-use (AFOLU) component of the VCS will allow now project developers to pursue independent authentication of activities including reforestation & afforestation, agro-forestry, improved forest management, land-use conversions and avoided deforestation, or REDD.

Its providers claim it's the first standard available to projects in the emerging REDD field.

While the VCS standard has been fully available to non-land-based emissions reduction projects, such as renewable energy, for year since the release of the 2007 version of the standard, special rules for projects in the agriculture and forestry sectors have taken until now to be finalised.

The delay reflects the wider issues affecting the forestry sector over the complexity of conducting carbon sink activities on the land. It has been beset with doubts over the integrity of carbon emissions reductions being generated, particularly over permanence, additionality and adverse non-carbon environmental impacts.

The lack of final rules hasn't stopped a number of forest carbon project developers intending to use the VCS starting projects and securing forward sales of VCUs, the VCS's carbon credits.  But it is only since the release of the AFOLU Guidance this month that such projects can move forward to the validation stage, according to Jerry Seager, the program manager at the VCS Association.

This means the AFOLU sector "is now formally incorporated into the 2007 standard", Seager said.

Research on the voluntary carbon market by New Carbon Finance shows that many of the transactions in the forestry sector so far in the second half of 2008 were VCS credits.

There are a number of other voluntary market standards for forestry available including the CCB Standard, CarbonFix, Plan Vivo and potentially VER+, but the VCS appears to enjoy the a jump on the others for universal acceptance, according to a recent report, Forest Carbon Standards 2008.

The VCS appears to enjoy widespread support in the carbon space, with the backing from some heavy hitters. It was developed by The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) with support from other business and non-government organisations.

Carbon Positive News

More Information:
Download: VCS Guidance Document
Forestry Carbon Standards 2008