Policy Roundup is Perennial's monthly pick of the few policy and registry developments that matter most for soil carbon, and what they mean in practice. This issue covers October 2026.
October brought the first credits issued worldwide under Gold Standard's soil carbon framework, moved the next version of VM0042 a step closer to final, and quietly changed a number that decides how many certified units an EU carbon farming activity can generate. The details below, with what each change means in practice.
Verra: VM0042 heads for version 3.0, and VCS Version 5 slips to July 2027
Verra's major revision to VM0042, its methodology for crediting improved agricultural land management, is moving toward version 3.0. As of late September, Verra's development page for the revision (methodology ID M0264) listed its status as Step 5, independent expert review, the stage after public consultation and before finalization. The revision package includes a red-lined draft of VM0042 v3.0, a new Soil Sampling and Analysis Handbook, and a version 3.0 of VMD0053, the module governing model calibration, validation and uncertainty for biogeochemical modeling, with a new calibration and validation report template.
Separately, on October 27 Verra postponed the effective date for most VCS Version 5 requirements from January 1 to July 1, 2027, citing audit and VVB capacity concerns. Not every requirement follows the same transition date, so projects mid-pipeline should check their own submission timing against the new schedule.
Why it matters: the sampling, laboratory and modeling requirements that land in version 3.0 will shape project design, evidence requirements and MRV cost for every project that registers under VM0042 going forward. And the v5 postponement gives projects running under version 4 six more months before the new program requirements apply.
What we're watching: the expert review concluding, and what changes between the consultation draft and the final v3.0.
The EU cut its minimum uncertainty deduction for carbon farming from 10% to 8%
A September corrigendum to the EU's carbon farming certification methodologies changed the stated minimum uncertainty deduction factor from 10% to 8%, and fixed a cross-reference in the afforestation baseline section. The deduction factor determines how much of a quantified carbon farming benefit is discounted for uncertainty, so the change carries direct consequences for project economics.
The rules also survived an attempt to block them. The scrutiny period that followed the July 10 adoption ran longer than first planned, and an objection tabled by the S&D, Greens/EFA and Left groups went to a plenary vote in the European Parliament on October 20. It was rejected, with 199 votes in favour, 407 against and 45 abstentions. Unless the Council still objects, the Delegated Regulation is expected to be published in the Official Journal and enter into force around the end of November or early December. Meanwhile, the Commission's methodology page now links draft documents for recognising models and proxy frameworks, which ask for independent validation, a defined application domain, traceable model versions and explicit uncertainty evidence.
Why it matters: the 8% floor directly scales how many certified units a carbon farming activity can generate, and the model-recognition drafts are the first concrete signal of what evidence model-based quantification will need under the EU framework.
The Commission has also scheduled a webinar for November 20 on the recognition of carbon farming certification schemes, where it will present its methodologies FAQ and the recognition protocols for schemes and models. For anyone planning quantification under the CRCF, it is the first public walkthrough of how recognition will work. No methodology or model has CRCF recognition yet.
What we're watching: the Council's position, publication in the Official Journal, the final model-recognition protocol, and the November 20 session.
Gold Standard's soil carbon framework produced its first credits
On October 6, Gaïago and South Pole announced the first credits issued worldwide under Gold Standard's Soil Organic Carbon Framework Methodology. The European Soil Revitalization Programme, managed by Gaïago with South Pole as carbon asset development partner, issued from an initial 6,000 verified hectares in France and Belgium. The wider programme has 727 participating farms, with full enrolment expected to reach more than 39,282 hectares, and forecasts approximately 264,000 tCO2e over its first crediting period. That figure is a forecast, not the volume of credits issued.
A first issuance like this shows the pathway can operate end to end in a commercial programme. The same month brought more operational movement. Verra announced its first credits under VM0051, its improved rice management methodology, from projects in India, and Isometric certified a Grazing Lands Management Module that accepts direct soil measurements or independently validated models checked against soil measurements, with Grassroots Carbon among the first participating project developers.
Why it matters: project developers now have more operational routes to certified soil carbon outcomes, and the routes differ in what they require on measurement, modeling and sampling.
What we're watching: the quantification and MRV detail behind the Gold Standard issuance, and the Isometric module's sampling and uncertainty provisions.
Also on our radar
→ Gold Standard opened a consultation on how digital MRV solutions should be assessed, covering digital evidence, computational models and whether an assessment can be reused across activities. It closes November 21, and it is the open channel for putting implementation experience on the record. A related ICVCM working-group report from September discusses evidence, uncertainty and assurance for digital monitoring; those are recommendations, not binding requirements.
→ The EU's ban on offset-based product claims is now binding. Since September 27, companies in the EU can no longer label products "climate neutral" or similar where the claim rests on purchased carbon credits, under the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive. Using verified credits in GHG inventories and Scope 3 reporting is unaffected; product-level marketing claims are what changes.
→ SBTi's FLAG call for evidence, the deadline we flagged last issue, closed on October 8. SBTi also published preparation resources for Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 validation, with validation bookings opening February 1, 2027.
→ Climate Action Reserve's Soil Enrichment Protocol v1.1 remains the version available for project submission. CAR's protocol page lists v2.0 as still under revision, so draft v2.0 requirements should not be treated as current ones.
→ ICVCM opened a consultation on board independence and safeguards for Indigenous Peoples and local communities across carbon-crediting programs. Feedback closes December 3.
From the research
A study published in Nature, led by Tim Jesper Suhrhoff at the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, used more than a century of data for the Mississippi River Basin together with reactive transport modeling to examine agricultural liming, the practice of spreading crushed limestone on cropland. Conventional GHG accounting treats lime as an emissions source. The study found the opposite at basin scale. Liming acted as a net carbon sink over the last century, with roughly 75% (65 to 85%) of the maximum carbon dioxide removal potential of lime added since 1900 realized at catchment scale, with a time lag of about 15 years. The authors argue the real emissions source is the anthropogenic acidity added to agricultural soils, and that accounting should target acidity inputs rather than lime.
This is one basin and one study, not a change to any methodology. It does open a serious question about how liming is treated in agricultural GHG models and baselines, which is worth following as registries and inventory guidance respond.
Dates on the calendar
→ November 20: Commission webinar on recognition of carbon farming certification schemes under the CRC
→ November 21: Gold Standard digital MRV consultation closes
→ December 3: ICVCM governance and safeguards consultation closes
→ February 1, 2027: GHG Protocol's request for information on forest-carbon accounting closes
That's the roundup. Policy Roundup is published monthly on LinkedIn: subscribe to get each issue, and if any of these changes touch a project or reporting cycle you're working on, get in touch.
