Standards Endorsed
The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)
Launched in 2006 and formerly known as the Voluntary Carbon Standard, the VCS is the market leading carbon accounting standard for the voluntary carbon market. Based on ISO Principles, the Standard ensures that emissions reductions are additional, singular and verified.
SOCIALCARBON®
Launched in 2008, SOCIALCARBON® is a best practice Standard developed by the Instituto Ecológica in Brazil that certifies carbon projects for their contributions to sustainable development. A key element is the active participation of local communities. From the outset, local stakeholders assume responsibility for the continued evaluation and improvement of a given project. This participation employs the full potential of human and natural resources to ensure stable and beneficial outcomes.
SOCIALCARBON® measures six resource indicators of the project, namely: Carbon, Technology, Social, Financial, Human and Natural, assessing each to generate an average SOCIALCARBON score every monitoring period. The SOCIALCARBON Standard is a co-benefit standard used to certify projects in conjunction with a carbon-accounting standard, such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
Learn more about the SOCIALCARBON Standard
Gold Standard
Launched in 2006, the Gold Standard is used in both voluntary and CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects; however it is only applicable to renewable energy and energy efficiency project types. Based on the CDM Additionality Tool for carbon accounting, the standard’s main purpose is to ensure that projects are both reducing emissions and fostering sustainable development.