What are the main certification standards and how do they differentiate?

Various guidelines aid reforestation and conservation projects, ensuring they meet specific criteria for added value, baseline measures, and additional benefits. Here are some of the main certification standards and their differences:

Plan Vivo Standard: 

Definition: The Plan Vivo Standard belongs to the Plan Vivo organization, which is a certification body that certifies projects.  Plan Vivo is a certification standard that focuses on community-based reforestation and conservation projects that prioritize social and environmental benefits. Certification under Plan Vivo demonstrates that a project is sustainable over the long-term, truly benefits people's livelihoods and provides vital climate and environmental benefits.

CO2 calculation methodology: They apply an ex-ante calculation of CO2.

This means the “future” CO2 comes from the same trees actually planted and offered on our platform. The projects can issue the credits each year according to the expected CO2 offset of these trees during their lifespan. Every 5 years, the Plan Vivo projects have to pass a project verification process to prove that their initial forecasted CO2 offsets comply with their real CO2 offsets. The total number of existing trees and their size is verified. 

Trees to CO2 linkage: CO2 is directly related to the new trees you will plant. Thanks to this, you can claim both CO2 offsets and tree-planting.

Website: www.planvivo.org

Verified Carbon Standard (VCS):

Definition: VCS belongs to the Verra organization. It is a widely used certification standard for carbon offset projects, including reforestation and conservation projects.It drives finance toward activities that reduce and remove emissions, improve livelihoods, and protect nature. Whether focusing on geologic carbon sequestration, forestry, agriculture, or another sector, projects developed in the VCS Program must undergo a rigorous assessment process. 

CO2 calculation methodology: They apply an ex-post calculation of CO2.

• Ex-post calculation for reforestation and conservation projects is related to events that ocurred in the past. Thus, they apply a verification process to check the actual results of the project after a given period of time, and that project can only issue credits according to the results obtained during that period. 
  For reforestation projects: the project first plants the trees and then proves how much CO2 is being captured by those trees. This is done through measurements and calculations that VCS does on site. This means that the CO2 of any VCS reforestation project doesn't come from the same tree planted in this project but from other trees planted in the past. The project can only issue credits related to already grown-up trees.
  For conservation projects: the project needs to prove the actual conservation of trees (CO2 avoidance) between 2 vintage years. The vintage refers to the year when the project verifies its CO2 emissions. 
  The CO2 emissions are calculated from the last year of vintage (CO2 verification) of the project.  The project can select how often they want this check to take place. It can be annualy (yearly vintage) or up to every 10 years.  
  
  VCS Program projects are subject to independent auditing by both Verra staff and qualified third parties. Many projects don’t verify their CO2 on an annual basis, as the verification is rather expensive and time consuming.

Trees to CO2 linkage: At Tree-Nation, to ensure you can plant new trees, every VCS project is linked to a reforestation project in order to also include newly planted trees with your sponsorship: we call this twinning. Thanks to twinning, you can claim both CO2 offsets and tree-planting. 

Website: http://www.verra.org/programs/verified-carbon-standard

CCB Standards: Climate, Community and Biodiversity standards:

Definition: The CCB standards also belong to the Verra organization. It's a certification standard that aims to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development by supporting local communities and smallholders in addition to carbon sequestration. 

CO2 calculation methodology: This standard cannot issue any credits. So if after a successful certification according to the CCB standard a project wants to issue CO2 credits, it has to apply simultaneously for the VCS standard and can then issue VCS-CCB credits. This means the CCB standard gives additional value to the VCS credits.

Trees to CO2 linkage: Same as for VCS.
Website: www.verra.org/programs/programs/ccbs

REDD+ Standard

Definition: The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+ was first negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2005. REDD+ aims to address the forest-climate
mitigation interface by promoting sustainable forest management, which reduces
carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation while allowing developing
countries, including local communities within them, to receive benefits from the
carbon sequestration capacity of their forests.

CO2 calculation methodology: Projects that comply with the REDD+ standard cannot issue any CO2 credits, but have to apply for the VCS standard in order to issue VCS credits for their REDD+ projects. 

Trees to CO2 linkage: Same as for VCS.

Website: https://redd.unfccc.int/