The Global Carbon Council (GCC) conducted a two-day calibration workshop for its verifiers in the online mode on April 12-13, 2023. The two-day workshop aimed to implement GCC’s vision to build capacity of the third-party independent applicant and approved Verifiers by ensuring calibration and “common understanding” of the GCC regulatory requirements and updates and other operational information. The GCC Verifiers are assessed and after approval by GCC Program, provide independent verifications of: (1) projects towards registration; and (2) accuracy and integrity of project’s GHG emission reductions towards issuance of Approved carbon Credits (ACCs). This event was attended by about 75+ participants from a total of 21 Verifier organizations, 11 of which are already approved by GCC Program, 5 of them have submitted applications and seeking approval and 5 of them have expressed interest in the GCC Program. To date, the GCC has eleven (11) organizations accredited as GCC Verifiers from various countries around the world. In addition to participants from the existing approved verifiers, GCC has also invited participants from many other organizations from other countries, applied to become GCC Verifiers. The growing number of submitted projects to the GCC Program from many different geographical regions necessitates the growth of GCC Verifiers number. Applicant verifiers seek approval by the GCC under either of the three tracks: UNFCCC track (CDM/ Article 6.4), ISO Track or MOU Track.
Highlighting the role of verifiers in the context of the calibration workshop, Dr. Yousef Alhorr, Founding Chairman of GCC, said,
“As we continue to expand the reach of the Global Carbon Council, the role of our accredited verifiers becomes increasingly vital. Their expertise is essential to ensure that carbon credits issued by GCC are credible and reliable. The objective of this workshop was to keep GCC Verifiers up to date with the latest developments and to learn about their experiences, so they continue to provide reliable verification services to our projects worldwide.”
Dr. Yousef Alhorr
On day one, the workshop featured five sessions that covered various topics including recent updates for GCC Verifiers, particularly related to initial approval, re-approval, validity and performance assessment, discussion on Letter of Approval (LoA) and process for checking legal ownership, GCC clarifications and regulatory updates, discussion on requirements related to Environmental No-net-harm (E+), Social No-net-harm (S+), United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), pitfalls observed during completeness checks of project documentation submitted at various stages during registration process, and typical gaps in assessment of additionality and investment analysis for projects, with particular focus on cases from Turkey and India.
On day two, the three sessions covered presentations and discussions applying Case Study approach covering recurring issues raised during assessment of request for registration and Issuance of ACCs. All sessions of the calibration workshop were followed by Q&A, allowing the participants to seek clarifications and enhanced understanding on the topics discussed. Concluding the workshop was the eighth and final session dedicated to an open house discussion and clarifications on any pending issues and feedback from verifiers was positive.
GCC’s presentations were developed and delivered by the GCC technical team including:
- Kishor Rajhansa
- Amit Thusu
- Subhendu Biswas
- Joseph Prakash
- Gaurav Srivastava
- Mayank Kumar
- Astakala Vidyacharan
- Sanjeev Kumar
