New players continue to enter the market for verified emissions reduction (VER) carbon credits. As these markets grow, some organizations are trying to ensure these programs actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Two organizations have or are in the process of introducing new quality benchmarks for VER credits. The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) has created a voluntary version of the Gold Standard's carbon-credit certification with lower compliance costs. Meanwhile, The Climate Group is circulating its proposal for a Voluntary Carbon Standard for public comments.
VER credits are carbon credits—generated by renewable energy and energy efficiency projects—for people, organizations and businesses who want to make their activities carbon-neutral, according to the REEEP. VERs are different from certified emission reductions that are used for compliance purposes under the Kyoto Protocol. VERs are voluntary, but binding, contracts in which an entity commits to taking certain actions to reduce or offset the emission of greenhouse gases.

At least 30 different vendors offer VERs, and most have their own internal proprietary standards for what constitutes an emission reduction. For example, some standards may consider forestry projects, such as tree plantings, as a carbon dioxide sink, but others don't.

"One of the very interesting questions here is, ‘How can this whole thing be applied to the new liquid fuels?'" said Mark Trexler, president of Trexler Climate + Energy Services Inc., a climate consulting service. "Different people are looking at different proposals for looking at ethanol versus biodiesel versus different things. So it is an extremely germane thing to see if we can use these markets to help give a boost to these liquid fuels."

Trexler said the main issue for the independent standards is "additionality." In other words, the standards should favor projects that are in addition to those done for economic reasons. "You also have the argument that the [ethanol] market is exploding on its own, given gas prices," he said. "Could you make a better argument for crediting, say, algae-based biodiesel instead to help get that fuel off the ground in a way that corn-based ethanol just doesn't need? Those are the kind of questions that come up."