CARBON STANDARD WORK

The hallmarks of quality carbon offsets are third-party certification standards, verification, and auditing. All Carbonfund.org offset projects are verified by a third party to the highest certification standards. This sort of review, coupled with an annual third-party audit of our finances and portfolio, ensure that our donors are supporting only high-quality, transparent carbon offset projects.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. How exactly does the process work?
Nonprofit organizations with special experience in a particular field, such as reforestation, develop a certification standard in that field, usually after an extensive discussion period to solicit input from other leading organizations. The standard then lays out in detail what criteria a project needs to meet to ensure real, measurable, permanent, additional greenhouse gas reductions. Once the standard is established, a project developer can choose to have its project verified according to the standard. To do this, it hires a third party verifier to investigate whether their project satisfies all the standard’s criteria. The verifier submits its report for review by the certification body. The certification body reviews the report, and, if it meets the criteria, issues its seal of approval. The project is now certified.
2. Is certification the same thing as verification?
No. Certification refers to the standard itself. Verification refers to the process of determining whether a project meets that standard.

3. Does the certification process ensure that my donation results in “additional�? greenhouse gas reductions?
Yes. Additionality refers to whether your donation really helps reduce more carbon dioxide emissions, or whether those reductions would have happened anyway. Each certification standard includes an objective set of criteria to ensure additionality.

4. Why are there so many different certification standards?
There are different standards for different types of project. The experts who know how to ensure a high-quality reforestation project are quite different from those who know how to ensure a high-quality wind project.

5. Is one certification standard better than another?
Experts from each of the certification standards never hesitate to say why their standard is the best. The truth is that the major certification standards out there agree on far more than they disagree. While some details may vary, there is broad-based agreement on what criteria need to be met to ensure a high-quality carbon offset project