Policy Roundup is Perennial's look at the few policy and registry developments that matter most for soil carbon, and what they mean in practice. This is the first issue, covering August and September 2026.
Verra launched its Scope 3 Standard, and agriculture is first in line
On September 15, Verra launched its Scope 3 Standard (S3S) Program, a certification framework for climate interventions inside corporate value chains, separate from the traditional offset market. Projects certified under it will generate Scope 3 Units (S3Us) designed for use in companies' emissions accounting and reporting. The first methodologies are adaptations from the VCS Program, and agriculture leads: S3S-VM0042 Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management v1.0 has been active since September 15. It's built directly on VM0042 v2.2, including the June 2026 corrections. The underlying VM0042 v2.2 methodology has been approved by ICVCM as meeting the Core Carbon Principles Assessment Framework.
The launch is phased. Version 1 lets project proponents pipeline-list interventions on the Verra Registry; registration, validation, verification and S3U issuance come in later updates, and Version 2 will define value-chain association and the reportable units companies can use for GHG reporting and claims. Perennial was a partner in one of the pilot projects that tested the program ahead of launch.
Why it matters: Verra now provides a dedicated certification pathway for agricultural value-chain interventions that is distinct from the VCS offset pathway. For companies running supply-shed programs on cropland and grazing land, S3S creates a route toward certified, reportable outcomes built on Verra's established VM0042 methodology.
What we're watching: the Version 1 updates that open registration and issuance, and how Version 2 defines reportable units for corporate claims.
The EU's carbon farming certification rules are one step from taking effect
On July 10, the European Commission adopted the Delegated Regulation setting out CRCF certification methodologies for carbon farming: agriculture and agroforestry on mineral soils, rewetting and restoration of peatlands and other organic soils, and afforestation. The European Parliament and Council objection period ended on September 9. The Commission still describes the Delegated Regulation as awaiting entry into force; the remaining step is publication in the Official Journal, which brings the rules into force 20 days later. The permanent removals methodologies cleared the same step this spring after two objection motions in Parliament failed.
A separate process is running in parallel. Eight certification schemes, including Puro.earth and Isometric, have applied to the Commission for recognition. They're applying against the permanent removals methodologies (DACCS, BioCCS, biochar), which are already in force, not against the new carbon farming rules.
Why it matters: soil-based projects cannot issue CRCF-certified carbon-farming units until the carbon farming methodologies are in force and a certification scheme is recognised against them. The quantification and monitoring requirements in the adopted text will decide what measurement looks like for those projects.
What we're watching: publication in the Official Journal, and which schemes then apply against the carbon farming methodologies.
SBTi is collecting evidence for FLAG Standard version 2
SBTi opened a call for evidence to inform Version 2 of its Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Standard, the framework for how companies set targets on farming and land-use emissions. The goal is to align FLAG with the Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 published in June. The survey is open until October 8.
Why it matters: if your company has FLAG targets, or your suppliers do, Version 2 could materially affect how land-based emissions and removals are treated under FLAG, including how the Standard aligns with the new GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard. This is the window to put real-world implementation experience in front of SBTi.
What we're watching: how the revision treats land-based removals, and what it asks of companies on measurement and verification.
Climate Action Reserve: a new protocol architecture, and soil carbon under revision
Two related developments at CAR. First, the registry introduced a modular structure for its crediting protocols, a global core plus country-specific modules, intended to make protocols easier to extend across geographies. Second, the revision of its U.S. Soil Enrichment Protocol continues toward version 2.0. SEP is one of the main methodologies for crediting soil organic carbon in the US, and the revision has been running since 2023, covering modeling guidance, soil sampling methods, and eligible practices.
Perennial sits on the SEP v2.0 technical task force for soil sampling and biogeochemical modeling, so we're following this one from the inside.
Why it matters: for US project developers, the sampling and modeling requirements that land in SEP v2.0 will directly shape project design and MRV cost.
Also on our radar
→ Isometric certified an Improved Soil Management Protocol in July. It requires direct soil sampling (alone or combined with validated modeling), full GHG accounting, and a minimum 20% revenue share for enrolled landowners, with three project developers already registered, including Great Yellow (UK, 300,000+ hectares) and Cultivo (US grasslands, 1.5M+ acres).
→ India saw its first direct farmer payments for soil carbon credits under VM0042. In mid-September, Grow Indigo began direct payments to 2,550 farmers in Punjab and Haryana, with more than ₹2.9 crore (29 million rupees) to be disbursed, linked to the project's first issuance of more than 50,000 credits. The practices were adopted between 2019 and 2022, a useful reminder of how long the pipeline runs from practice change to farmer income.
→ Carbon Standards International, a Swiss standards and certification scheme operator that also runs the Global C-Sink Registry, closed the public consultation on its CRCF-aligned EU Biochar Carbon Removal Standard on September 24, another sign the EU certification field is filling in.
→ Verra closed the public consultation on the major revision of VM0044, its biochar methodology, on August 17. The revision, headed for version 2.0, would open eligibility to existing production facilities and new feedstocks, and Verra launched an RFP for an independent expert review of the revision.
From the research
An 11-year field study by Bingjie Li, Jing Huang, Lisheng Liu, Dongchu Li, Yinghua Duan, and Minggang Xu at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences looked at how straw return affects carbon in rice paddy soils. Returning straw increased soil organic carbon content by 13.6% relative to fertilization alone, and by 22.7% when combined with winter green manure. What makes it useful is the mechanism. Straw return strengthened how iron oxides bind carbon to soil particles, through physical protection within aggregates and chemical stabilization by organo-mineral bonding. The study doesn't establish a permanence duration. What it adds is mechanistic evidence for how SOC gains can be stabilized.
That mineral-bound fraction is also getting attention on the policy side of measurement. A USDA-funded team at the University of South Carolina, led by Dr. Andi Jilling, is studying mineral-associated organic matter, the type of soil carbon bound to clay minerals that makes up most soil organic matter but isn't part of NRCS's official soil health indicators. One project tests how drought and wet-dry cycling destabilize it; the other builds the evidence base for whether NRCS should start tracking it. An indicator change would reshape what soil health officially means on the measurement side.
Dates on the calendar
→ October 8: SBTi FLAG call-for-evidence survey closes
That's the roundup. Policy Roundup is published monthly; subscribe on LinkedIn to get each issue, and if any of these changes touch a project or reporting cycle you're working on, get in touch.
