Verra, the global carbon credits registry, has suspended four China-related entities from auditing agriculture and forestry offsetting schemes on its registry.
Among the firms is the German certification firm TÜV Nord’s China operations. The others are China Classification Society Certification Company, China Quality Certification Center and CTI Certification, among China’s biggest certifiers and carbon service providers.
These firms can no longer audit agriculture and forestry offsetting schemes on Verra’s registry. This is the first time Verra has taken such a step.
The suspension stems from the firms’ certification of 37 programmes that claimed to reduce methane emissions from rice fields across China, resulting in the generation of nearly 2 million carbon offsets for oil and gas giant Shell’s gas business.
Verra revoked the projects in August 2024 after a review found a string of integrity failures that the auditors didn’t identify.
Verra has also asked Shell to compensate for the now-worthless credits.
“This decision was not made lightly, but Verra’s commitment to integrity means upholding the highest standards of quality and trust, and maintaining market confidence must come first,” Justin Wheler, Verra’s chief program management officer, said in a written statement.
The suspension will have immediate repercussions for projects that had contracted the services of any of the four auditors. Those that have already undergone an audit carried out by the suspended auditors will have to repeat the process with a new entity.
Shell has used at least half a million credits produced by Chinese rice farming projects to offset emissions from shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to a media report.
