American Carbon Registry | Source | Methodologies | Carbon registry |
The American Carbon Registry (ACR), founded in 1996 as the first voluntary GHG registry in the world, plays a pivotal role in the carbon offset market, ensuring rigorous standards and methodologies for offset projects. With over two decades of experience, ACR, a nonprofit under Winrock International, has been instrumental in developing science-based protocols. Its Validation and Verification Standard, a crucial component ensuring the integrity of carbon offset projects.
- Validation and Verification Standards: ACR mandates validation and verification by independent, ISO 14065-accredited third parties, ensuring adherence to stringent standards. These processes, outlined in the ACR Validation and Verification Standard, Version 1.1, ensure that GHG projects meet rigorous criteria for registration and issuance of serialized Emission Reduction Tons (ERTs).
- Comprehensive Validation Process: The validation process, outlined in Chapter 1, emphasizes transparency and accountability. It covers key aspects such as defining project boundaries, establishing baseline scenarios, and assessing additionality, ensuring that projects contribute genuine emissions reductions beyond business-as-usual scenarios.
- Robust Verification Activities: Chapter 8 details verification activities, including data assessment, error checking, and verification of quantification methods. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of reported emissions reductions, enhancing confidence in the integrity of carbon offset projects.
- Addressing Environmental and Community Impacts: ACR requires projects to assess and mitigate environmental and community impacts, promoting sustainable development practices. Verification processes scrutinize these assessments to ensure compliance with environmental safeguards and stakeholder engagement.
- Promoting Aggregated Projects: Recognizing the benefits of aggregation in lowering transaction costs and diversifying risk, ACR provides guidelines for verifying aggregated carbon offset projects. This encourages broader participation in carbon markets while maintaining verification rigor.