By Standard

When you choose to offset, you should be confident you’re buying credits developed to the highest international standards. All of these standards have strong additionality requirements and are validated and verified by approved, third party auditors. The following standards have particular criteria that ensure their high quality:

The Gold Standard

• Strong requirements for sustainable development and community consultation
• Located in countries without Kyoto targets
• Based on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), but for the voluntary market
• One of the most widely used standards in the voluntary market

Our Gold Standard credits are registered and retired on the Gold Standard APX registry. See our Gold Standard projects. 

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Verified Carbon Standard 

• Developed by The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
• One of the most widely used standards in the voluntary market

Our Verified Carbon Standard credits are registered and retired on the Markit Registry. See our Verified Carbon Standard projects.

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Climate Action Reserve (CAR)

• US-based offsets program working to ensure integrity and transparency in theNorth American carbon market
• All CAR credits (called CRTs or ‘carrots’) must use CAR protocols, which are widely regarded to be among the highest quality standards for carbon reduction projects
• Rumored that a potential US cap and trade program would accept CAR credits

We are in the process of developing our first CAR projects. When we have verified credits, they will be registered and retired on the CAR registry.

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VER+

• Based on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), but for the voluntary market
• Developed by TÜV SÜD, a UN-approved Designated Operational Entity

Our VER+ credits are registered on the Blue Registry. See our VER+ projects. 

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ISO Plus CDM

Several of our earliest projects were developed before the above standards existed for the voluntary market. We developed these projects using the ISO 14064 criteria for emissions reductions projects and using elements of standards from the compliance markets such as the CDM tool for additionality. View our ISO Plus CDM projects. 

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British Columbia Emission Offsets Regulation

• Developed by the British Columbia Government—the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a carbon tax, and a member of the Western Climate Initiative
• Projects must be based in British Columbia or use BC-based technology
• Projects must use protocols developed by the Pacific Carbon Trust or other approved developers

Our BC EOR credits are either sold to the Pacific Carbon Trust or registered and retired on the Markit registry. See our BC EOR projects.