Climate, Community, Biodiversity (CCB) Standards

Offset your emissions using VCS carbon credits with extra certification under the CCB Standards

Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards certify Forest (nature-based) projects as delivering tangible climate, community, and/or biodiversity benefits.

CCB Standards certified projects act on the twin imperatives of climate change and sustainability by:

• improving the lives of some of the world’s poorest people, giving them sustainable options for the future;
• protecting, enhancing and restoring biodiversity in mega-diverse ecosystems;
• actively supporting local and indigenous communities and small landholders to protect habitat in biodiverse landscapes.

The CCB Standards were developed by the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance.

CCB Standards Project Types

CCB Standards are usually applied to land-based projects, which fall within the Forests carbon offset theme.

Many REDD+ projects accredited under Verified Carbon Standard also have CCB accreditation.

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is an UNFCCC framework to guide forest sector activities.

The REDD+ projects in our Carbon Offset Portfolio are certified CCB Gold in at least one of 3 categories: Climate, Community, Biodiversity.

The projects available through our Carbon Shop are spread across Africa, Asia and South America.

Carbon Credit Price

When a project is accredited under VCS and certified under CCB Standards, the carbon credit unit is a VCU.

The price of carbon credits from REDD+ projects reflects their complex, multi-faceted project design and implementation:

• essentially the premium paid for VCS REDD+ projects with CCB Standards certification represents their sustainability benefits beyond just the carbon.

The carbon finance generated by selling carbon credits from a project enables actions that target the drivers of deforestation specific to the project area, helping to protect the habitat of hundreds of species, including Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable species.

The carbon credits provide funding to improve the lives of local people, e.g. the provision of schools, health clinics, employment, sustainable land management, cookstoves, safe water, land tenure, etc.

Key Features of the CCB Standards

Both desk and field audits by qualified independent third parties ensure that all CCB Standards’ certified projects apply the Standards’ methodologies properly and meet their requirements.

Projects certified under the CCB Standards enable the offsetting of your carbon footprint while actively helping local communities and protecting a myriad of plants and animals, including iconic species synonymous with the project’s landscape.

Sustainability Beyond Carbon

Projects certified under the CCB Standards have a vast array of sustainability outcomes, including:

• transforming local forest-based economies and sustaining communities;
• providing training, employment and economic opportunities;
• developing local enterprises based on sustainably harvested non-timber forest products like honey and coffee;
• improving social equity and resilience;
• strengthening land-tenure and governance;
• maintaining traditional customs and lifestyles;
• using pro-poor approaches to community-based sustainable forest management and food security;
• establishing a monetary value for keeping the standing forest as opposed to chopping it down;
• empowering households and villages within the surrounding areas, helping to protect the forest and prevent poaching, illegal logging, bushmeat hunting, charcoal production;
• helping community and infrastructure development like schools, health centres, safe water supplies and cookstove provision; and
• protecting habitat and ecosystems that have high biodiversity values, not only for iconic species but the hundreds of species of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, insects, fungi and fish that rely on that habitat.

Buying carbon offsets from Beyond Neutral is easy