The Rainforest Alliance is now the first Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certifier to be fully accredited under this standard as a forestry verifier to the VCS.

Though reducing emissions is a first priority, individuals and organizations can “offset” emissions that they cannot eliminate by purchasing credits from projects that take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or prevent their emission. Planting of trees, managing existing forests more responsibly and conserving forests that are in danger of deforestation or degradation all contribute to carbon dioxide sequestration. In coordination with its programs in sustainable forestry, agriculture and tourism, the Rainforest Alliance, an international conservation organization, audits farm and forest projects that can demonstrate their ability to sequester significant volumes of carbon.

For the past two years, the Rainforest Alliance has provided carbon auditing services to FSC-certified, Rainforest Alliance Certified and non-certified landowners against the standards of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance, Plan Vivo and the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). With ANSI’s positive accreditation decision, the Rainforest Alliance will now be able to verify VCS forestry and agroforestry projects.

“The VCS is emerging as the leading standard for voluntary verification of climate mitigation projects,” said Jeff Hayward, climate initiative manager for the Rainforest Alliance. The Rainforest Alliance has validated and verified forest carbon projects in Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, England, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Indonesia, and is currently working with projects in over 20 countries.