NCX is now working with our scientific advisors and other stakeholders on the next evolution of certification with a focus on transparency and 3rd party verification. We will share more information on this in the coming months. Learn more here.
With Verra certification, we anticipate greater interest from corporations, which will likely increase the price paid to landowners for their participation in our Natural Capital Exchange. We’ll be diving into this and more in the following sections.
What is Carbon Credit Certification?
The goal of third-party certification is to build trust and credibility in the carbon market. Certifiers, such as Verra, reassure landowners and carbon credit buyers that our program accounting is based on sound science and methods that will drive real climate impact. Thanks to certification you can rest assured that NCX credits are being developed according to best practices, are receiving a third-party review and will be securely and transparently accounted for on a registry.
Carbon credits from NCX program cycles will be issued after a multi-step process that includes the approval of our new methodology by Verra. The program accounting is then validated and the project activities verified by a third-party assessor. These independent stakeholders, who predominantly have advanced scientific or academic degrees, are responsible for critically evaluating the methodology, its calculations, and any assumptions made in the development of our Natural Capital Exchange.
Why Trust Verra Certification?
To certify the integrity of our carbon credits, we chose to work with Verra because it’s an international standards development organization, recognized as a leader in voluntary carbon offset trading. Founded in 2007, Verra has developed standards and innovative programs of their own, often viewed as a catalyst for other organizations to execute sustainability-driven projects globally. Verra created and manages the VCS Program, the largest voluntary greenhouse gas program in the world, enabling certified initiatives to transition emission reductions into tradable credits on the VCS Registry.
Here’s what Verra had to say about NCX:
Why is Certification Important to Me as a Landowner?
For landowners, certification is especially important as it reaffirms that our methodology incorporates cutting-edge technologies, the latest climate science and that NCX is compensating landowners driving real change on the landscape. At NCX, trust is our most important value; our success hinges on cultivating trust, both amongst landowners willing to sell their credits and corporations interested in purchasing them.
Through the Verra certification process, we are building a reliable program in which buyers and sellers can depend on the validity of our credits and the positive climate impact we’re helping achieve. Once certified, we expect the demand for credits, and subsequently, the market-clearing price paid for harvest deferral commitments, to increase for landowners.
Additionally, thanks to Verra’s world-renowned reputation, certification will help NCX scale, democratizing access to forest carbon markets for all landowners.
NCX Verra Certification, Next Steps
Our concept note, a proposal put together providing an overview of our program accounting, was approved by Verra earlier this year. We’re continuing to work closely with Verra through this next stage of methodology development and anticipate the formal certification process to be complete by mid-2022.
We’ve included a timeline below that provides an overview of the process and key milestones at each stage. Once our methodology is approved, it will be utilized to develop certified carbon credits for exchange on Verra’s registry which offers transparent and verifiable transaction history, ensuring the credits purchased result in reduced emissions.
Certification is a multi-step process, and we’re excited to advance our work with Verra. This achievement will positively impact carbon buyers and sellers, reaffirming the credibility of our program, subsequently yielding an increase in demand (and prices paid) for credits in the marketplace.
If you’re a landowner interested in learning more about our program, please contact us at landowners@ncx.com or sign up for a free property assessment at landowners.ncx.com/create-account.
