World’s First Verified “Triple Gold” Carbon Offset Distinction Earned by Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey Project to Prevent Deforestation

The Oddar Meanchey REDD+ Project in Cambodia is the first project in the world to earn the verified “Triple Gold” distinction under theClimate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards for its avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. SCS Global Services (SCS)independently verified the avoided emissions based on the project’s deforestation avoidance measures under both the CCB Standards and the Verified Carbon Standard.

The project, developed by Terra Global Capital LLC and named for the Cambodian province where it is located, is implementing a broad set of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) strategies to tackle a host of deforestation pressures. These pressures include urbanization, agriculture, forest fires, unsustainable timber, and fuel wood harvesting. The “Triple Gold” verification demonstrates that the project delivers an elevated level of community, biodiversity and climate adaptation benefits paired with robust emissions accounting practices.

“The Oddar Meanchey project brings together 13 community forestry groups, nearly 10,000 households, the Cambodia Forestry Administration, and a variety of finance groups and foundations in the successful development of an exemplary REDD project,” said Dr. Robert J. Hrubes, Executive Vice President at SCS Global Services.

The collaborative initiative has sparked the creation of community-based water delivery enterprises, sustainable farming systems, land tenure facilitation processes and fuel-efficient stove delivery. The 56,000-hectare dry deciduous and evergreen forest provides a habitat for amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds, as well as endangered tree species. The conservation effort avoided over 700,000 tonnes of GHG emissions from 2008 to 2011.

"The successful VCS and Triple Gold CCB verification confirms the project’s significant emission reductions, which have been recognized by the marketplace in the project's initial sale of carbon credits,” said Leslie Durschinger, CEO of Terra Global Capital LLC.

SCS Global Services (SCS) has been providing global leadership in third-party environmental and sustainability certification, auditing, testing, and standards development for over 30 years. Programs span a cross-section of industries, recognizing achievements in green building, product manufacturing, food and agriculture, forestry, and more. SCS provides accredited services under numerous internationally recognized certification programs. SCS accredited to provide carbon offset verification under a multitude of globally-recognized methodologies, including VCS, CCB, ACR and CAR. www.scsglobalservices.com

Terra Global Capital, LLC was founded in 2006 to facilitate market and payment-for-performance based approaches for forest and land-use emission reductions that provide community benefits. Terra is now the leader in forest and land-use analytics and finance, providing technical expertise and investment capital to their global client base in a collaborative and innovative manner. Terra has extensive developing country experience and is the leading developer of protocols to measure GHG emissions reductions from a full range of agricultural activities in the United States.