KNOWLEDGE CENTER
What are Verified Carbon Offsets (VERs)?
What is a Verified Emission Reduction (aka, VER or Carbon Offset)?
A Verified Emission Reduction (VER) is a reduction of one ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) carbon equivalent below a defined baseline or regulatory requirement. VERs allow GHG emitters to “balance” emissions of GHGs produced in one place by procuring GHG reductions from somewhere else (whether next door or around the world), thus meeting either voluntary or mandatory emissions reduction targets.
How do I know the offsets are making a difference?
When sourcing VERs buyers should be aware of several important qualities and factors in selecting a carbon reduction product and vendor. Please visit Project Selection to learn more about our rigorous criteria for sourcing high quality VERs. VERs from 3Degrees are always sourced from specific projects that result in real, enforceable, and permanent greenhouse gas emission reductions and are third-party verified against objective, credible and transparent standards.
Where kind of projects does 3Degrees work with?
3Degrees maintains an inventory of VERs from five project types – agricultural methane, international wind, coal mine methane, landfill methane, and sustainable forestry – from countries around the world – including Mexico, China, India, Brazil, New Zealand and the U.S. Our diverse and large supply allows our business customers to select specific projects based on their preference for location, verification standard, technology, and/or social co-benefits.
How does 3Degrees ensure that its projects genuinely go beyond what would have happened anyway; in other words that they are ‘additional’?
All of our projects have passed a defined additionality test. This can either involve demonstrating that the project is not common practice and goes beyond business as usual practices as well as legal and regulatory requirements, or it can be demonstrated by showing that revenue from the sale of offsets was critical to the financial viability of the project. To learn more:
I’ve read that the carbon market is the “wild west”, without standards and that the buyer should beware.
The carbon market is new and there is a lot to keep up with in terms of industry standards and development. 3Degrees is committed to operating a responsible carbon offset business that relies on rigorous and transparent quality standards for VERs. Standards we use include: CCAR, VCS, Gold Standard, Green-e Climate, CDM, CCBA, and CCX. All of our VERs are third-party verified. There is no substitute for being an educated consumer and we invite you to learn about the carbon offset market and the projects we support.
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Visit our Carbon Footprint Calculator or Contact Us to learn more about our carbon reduction projects across the globe.