Verra has launched a public consultation for a major revision to its VM0044 methodology for Biochar Use in Soil and Non-Soil Applications in its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program.
The consultation period will run from July 15 through August 17, 2026. The revised methodology would be published as version 2.0 of VM0044.
This methodology qualifies the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) achieved through the conversion of waste biomass into biochar at new biochar production plants.
Under it, eligible soil and non-soil applications include crop and grasslands, as well as novel products such as biochar-amended concrete and construction materials.
The major revision of this globally applicable methodology aims to fortify the accuracy, transparency, conservativeness, and consistency of emission reduction quantification while aligning with current scientific evidence, operational experience, and evolving biochar best practices.
The revision proposes the expansion of eligibility to existing biochar production plants and the inclusion of detailed criteria for high-technology biochar production facilities.
For the demonstration of additionality, it suggests the replacement of the standardized approach (positive list) with the project method approach, and it outlines an expansion of feedstock eligibility to include invasive species and other new, not purpose-grown feedstocks.
It introduces monitoring approaches for the measurement of key parameters such as the hydrogen to organic CO2 ratio of biochar and moisture content, and it proposes the inclusion of procedures for calculating feedstock transport emissions.
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The proposed revision document also contains suggestions for safe biochar storage and transport, the inclusion of requirements for uncertainty analysis and assessment, and other general editorial improvements done to the original version.
The efforts behind the VM0044 biochar methodology revision
To draft this revision, Verra worked with Canadian Biomass Energy Research, who served as a technical consultant for the publication.
In 2025, the original VM0044 v1.2 methodology was approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) as meeting the requirements of the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) Assessment Framework.
Moving forward, Verra will also submit the VM0044, v2.0 version to the ICVCM for assessment.
