By David Stanway
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Verra, the U.S.-based registry that sets standards for the voluntary carbon market, has rejected as many as 37 low-emission rice cultivation projects located in China following a quality control review, it said late on Wednesday.
The voluntary carbon market, which allows companies to buy credits to offset their emissions and meet their climate targets, has been under growing scrutiny, with many environmental groups saying it generates “junk” credits that allow firms to “greenwash”.
The integrity of the Chinese rice projects, which make use of alternative irrigation methods to cut methane emissions caused by the decomposition of plants in rice fields, was first called into question last year. Verra has already “permanently inactivated” the methodology by which the credits generated by the projects are calculated.
Methodologies allow project developers to measure and verify emission reductions and create offsets that can be sold on the voluntary market, but the rice projects were found to have overstated their size and their emissions reduction potential.
In what it described as an “unprecedented action”, Verra ordered project backers to pay compensation for the excess credits they issued after identifying serious failures in the way they were calculated.
The move “demonstrates Verra’s commitment to ensuring greater integrity, transparency and quality in the voluntary carbon market,” said Farhan Ahmed, chief programme management officer at Verra.
Global oil giant Shell was one of the companies using offsets generated by Chinese rice projects to help meet its climate goals. The company told Reuters earlier this year that it remained committed to ensuring its credit portfolio had a “verifiable carbon benefit”.
Rice production is responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The use of “alternate wet and drying” (AWD) techniques – which cut the length of time rice fields are submerged under water – could slash the amount of methane they generate.
New projects are underway to try to make use of the carbon market to incentivise farmers to switch to AWD. Verra is also working on a new methodology to calculate and verify the emission cuts.
(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Michael Perry)
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