Gold Standard and Verra are organizations that work to promote the development of high-quality carbon credits and offset projects. Carbon credits are a type of financial instrument that allows businesses and individuals to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by funding projects that reduce or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Both Gold Standard and Verra are focused on ensuring that carbon credits are generated from projects that have real, verifiable, and long-term environmental benefits.

One way that Gold Standard and Verra differ from one another is in the specific standards and guidelines that they have developed for offset projects.

Gold Standard has developed the Gold Standard for the Global Goals, which is a set of standards and criteria that offset projects must meet in order to be eligible to generate Gold Standard carbon credits. The Gold Standard covers a range of issues, including environmental integrity, social responsibility, and stakeholder engagement.

Verra, on the other hand, has developed the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), which is a set of standards and guidelines that offset projects can use to ensure that they are generating high-quality carbon credits. The VCS covers a similar range of issues as the Gold Standard, including environmental integrity and social responsibility, but also includes additional criteria related to the measurement, monitoring, and verification of carbon credits.

Additionally, Verra also provides guidance to companies on how to manage their plastic use and waste in a more sustainable way and supports them in making commitments towards reducing plastic waste. The organization has developed guidelines for corporate plastic stewardship, in collaboration with other entities such as South Pole, Quantis, and EA. These guidelines, known as the Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship, aim to advise companies on best practices for reducing their plastic footprint, mitigating plastic leakage, and setting and achieving ambitious plastic waste reduction goals. Verra’s guidelines are part of the larger 3R Initiative (3RI), which focuses on promoting responsible production, consumption, and disposal of plastics.

Overall, the efforts of Gold Standard and Verra are helping to bring greater transparency by promoting the development of high-quality carbon credits and offset projects.