Development of The CCB Standards Third Edition

The Third Edition of the CCB Standards was released in December 2013 concurrently with a revised version of the Rules for the Use of the CCB Standards (12th December 2013). The CCBA launched a revision of the CCB Standards in 2012 with the following objectives:

• to incorporate substantial feedback received from current users and others to ensure that the CCB Standards remain robust, practical and continue to meet the demands of the users, and also
• to facilitate the access of smallholder and community-led projects to carbon finance

The second objective seeks to support smallholder- and community-led projects which have significant potential to provide multiple climate and development benefits but face a series of challenges. The CCB Standards are in a unique position to reduce the barriers for these kinds of projects through modifications to help showcase the special qualities and multiple benefits of smallholder- and community-led projects (see CCB Standards for Smallholders Initiative below).

The terms of reference for the revision of the CCB Standards to develop the Third Edition were published in November 2012, followed by the creation of a multi-stakeholder Standards Committeee to oversee the revision (See below for details). The CCBA undertook a range of research and consultations to seek input for the revision, including case studies and a workshop with smallholder- and community-led projects in Addis Ababa in October 2012, and a survey of current CCB Standards users in January 2012 (See below for details). Two drafts versions of the CCB Standards Third Edition were posted on www.climate-standards.org for public comments for 60 days from 22nd March to 21st May, 2013 and from 31st July 2013 to 29 September 2013. All comments received were evaluated and a written synopsis was published of how each material issue has been addressed in the standards (see below for details).

CCB Standards Third Edition Revision documents

• Rules for Use of the CCB Standards (December 2013) showing changes from the Rules for the Use of CCB Standards (21st June 2010) and changes from the first draft of the Rules for the Use of CCB Standards (31st July 2013)
• Third Edition of the CCB Standards (December 2013) showing changes from the Second Edition of the CCB Standards, the changes from first draft of the Third Edition of the CCB Standards dated 22nd March 2013 and changes from the second draft of the Third Edition dated 31st July 2013
• Comments on the Draft Third Edition of the CCB Standards and Rules for the Use of the CCB Standards of 31st July 2013 received during the second 60-day public comment period 31st July to 29th September 2013
• Second draft of Third Edition of the CCB Standards (31st July 2013)
• Second draft of Third Edition of the CCB Standards showing changes from the Second Edition of the CCB Standards and the changes from the first draft of the Third Edition of the CCB Standards dated 22nd March 2013 (31st July 2013)
• Draft Rules for Use of the CCB Standards (31st July 2013)
• Draft Rules for Use of the CCB Standards (31st July 2013) showing changes from the Rules for the Use of CCB Standards (21st June 2010)
• Comments on the Draft Third Edition of the CCB Standards of 22nd March 2013 received during the first 60-day public comment period 22nd March to 31st March 2013
• Draft of Third Edition of the CCB Standards (22nd March 2013)
• Draft of Third Edition of the CCB Standards (22nd March 2013) showing changes from the Second Edition of the CCB Standards
• revised Work plan
• Composition of the Standards Committee
• Terms of Reference for the CCB Standards Committee
• Stakeholder mapping for the CCB Standards
• Terms of reference and Work plan for Revision of the CCB Standards

The main changes in the Third Edition to incorporate substantial feedback received from current users and others to ensure that the CCB Standards remain robust, practical and continue to meet the demands of the users are:

• In order to reduce repetition and redundancy and to increase the ease of use of the standards, the criteria were reorganized to group all relevant criteria into Climate, Community and Biodiversity sections, including the corresponding Gold Level criteria (on in each section)
• The General section was reorganized to give greater emphasis to stakeholder engagement in a dedicated criterion.
• Gender was also given greater attention by explicitly requiring women, or sub-groups of women, to be identified as a Community Group that must benefit from the project where they derive different income, livelihood and cultural values from the project area from other community members.
• The Climate section of the Standards was waived for projects using a recognized Greenhouse Gas Program. Procedures and the criteria and process for deeming programs as ‘recognized’ are defined in the ‘Rules for the Use of the CCB Standards’ that has also been revised in 2013. The Climate section in the Standards is only to be used to demonstrate a project’s net positive climate benefits and not for claiming GHG emissions reductions and removal units that may be used as offsets.
• In order to clarify, strengthen and address gaps in existing indicators, modifications were made and additional indicators included throughout the Standards

The CCB Standards for Smallholders Initiative

The CCB Standards for Smallholders initiative aimed to enhance the Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards framework that smallholders- and community-led projects could use to demonstrate their institutional, governance and multiple benefit quality to prospective investors and offset buyers, as well as to develop guidance for projects and to promote special qualities of these projects to potential donors, investors and offset buyers. Smallholder- and community-led land-based carbon projects are those on lands owned individually by smallholders, or owned collectively by communities, or where smallholders and/or communities have recognized managment rights, and where they are actively involved in design and implementation of project activities. Such projects have significant potential to provide multiple climate and development benefits, but face a series of challenges. The CCB Standards was in a unique position to reduce the barriers for these kinds of projects. The CCB A led the initiative from April 2012 to March 2014 in partnership with the Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) Ghana and Rainforest Alliance. This initiative was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

The main changes in the Third Edition to facilitate the access of smallholder and community-led projects to carbon finance are:

• smallholder- and community-led projects where activities are implemented on land owned or managed by them have an opportunity to showcase their projects through the new Community Gold Level. These projects will have to demonstrate equitable benefit sharing both with the smallholders and also among the smallholders by ensuring that benefits flow to women and other marginalized and vulnerable groups. These projects also need to ensure building capacity for active involvement of smallholders in decision making, implementation and eventually in management of the project.
• use of programmatic approaches has been enables which will allow adding new land areas to the project after initial validation has taken place, subject to meeting certain eligibility criteria. This helps to reduce transaction costs, especially for smallholder-led projects that need to aggregate smallholder land parcels at scale, but are likely to start small and expand over time.
• use of simple and direct language that is easy to understand throughout the Standards.

CCB Standards for Smallholders Initiative documents

• CCB Standards for Smallholders Factsheet
• CCB Standards for Smallholders Case studies
• Insight on CCB Standards for Smallholders from Demand Side Interviews
• CCB Standards for Smallholders Stakeholder workshop October 2012
• RA CCBA Standards Framework October 2012

Rules for the Use of the CCB Standards (21st June 2010)

The Rules for the Use of the CCB Standards (21st June 2010) were developed to define the CBA’s requirements for the evaluation of projects against the CCB Standards.

• Rules for the Use of the CCB Standards (21st June 2010)

CCB Standards Second Edition

The Second Edition of the CCB Standards was released in December 2008. The Standards were revised to respond to the evolving context for land-based carbon based on feedback from a wide range of users of the Standards such as project developers, representatives of local communities and indigenous peoples, investors, offset buyers, non-governmental organizations and government agencies. The revision process included two public comment periods of 60-days and 30-days respectively and was overseen by a multi-stakeholder Standards commuttee.

CCB Standards Second Edition Revision documents:

• CCBS Revision TORS (Feb 2008)
• View comments on Version 1.0 Draft Second Edition (Aug 2008)
• View response to comments on Version 1.0 Draft Second Edition (Oct 2008)
• View comments on Version 2.0 Draft Second Edition (Nov 2008)
• View response to comments on Version 2.0 Draft Second Edition (Dec 2008)
• Double Counting Policy Announcement

CCB Standards First Edition

The First Edition of the CCB Standards was released in May 2005 after a rigorous two-year devvelopment process based on input from community and environmental groups, companies, academics, project developers and others with expert knowledge or affected by the Standards. Prior to their release, the Standards were tested on projects in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas and peer reviewed by the world’s leading tropical forestry institutes: the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Kenya.

CCB Standards First Edition Revision documents:

• CCB Standards First Edition