A carbon credit rating agency has upgraded a Verra-accredited afforestation project in Chile following a review. The rating agency noted a low chance of over-crediting due to the project’s conservative approach to carbon accounting. However, the same rating agency downgraded a water purifying project in Kenya. The agency believes that the project’s carbon accounting overestimates the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon credit ratings are important for projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions in developing countries. These projects can sell their carbon credits to companies that want to reduce their carbon footprint. The carbon credits are a certification that the project has reduced a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The rating secures the integrity and legitimacy of the carbon credit market and ensures that projects produce legitimate, measurable, and verified emissions reductions. Without the ratings, companies buying carbon credits risk overpaying for credits that don’t result in real carbon reductions. Both the Chilean and Kenyan projects were accredited by Verra. Verra is a non-profit organisation that provides accreditation to carbon credit projects. Verra’s accreditation is a seal of approval that signifies the project meets high-quality standards for carbon reductions. The upgrades and downgrades from the carbon credit rating agency demonstrate the importance of accuracy in measuring carbon reductions. They also show that not all carbon credit projects are equal. Investors need to be careful when investing in these projects and scrutinise the underlying assumptions made by the project teams to measure their effectiveness.
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It is important that carbon credit schemes also benefit local communities.
The World Meteorological Organisation has stated that 193 countries have given unanimous backing to a scheme to monitor global greenhouse...
