ESI Approved as  CCBA Third-Party Auditor

We are pleased to announce that Environmental Services, Inc. (ESI) has been approved as third-party auditors for the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (Second Edition, December 2008).  

CCBA is a partnership of international NGOs and research institutes seeking to promote integrated solutions to land management around the world. CCBA has developed voluntary standards to help design and identify land management activities that simultaneously minimize climate change, support sustainable development and conserve biodiversity (climate-standards.org). The CCB Standard serves a vital role in substantially improving the overall quality and benefits derived from land-based climate change mitigation projects.

ESI's acceptance by CCBA marks the sixth major approval ESI has earned related to the greenhouse gas (GHG) validation and verification market.  Chicago Climate Exchange was the first, followed by the Georgia Carbon Sequestration Registry, the Verified Carbon Standard, the American Carbon Registry, and the Climate Action Reserve. In March of 2010, ESI was accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under ISO 14065:2007 for Greenhouse Gas Validation and Verification Bodies, and ESI joined 18  firms in the world holding such credentials for GHG. Furthermore, our ANSI scope of accreditation includes verification/validation of assertions related to GHG emission reductions and removals at the project level for Land Use and Forestry (Group 3).  ESI is only one of five entities to have accreditation including this forestry scope.

CCBA is recognized for authorizing high quality sequestration projects that also include major social elements as part of the plan and commitment. These projects include large conservation efforts in areas such as the Amazon rain forest, which also includes standards to benefit indigenous peoples, biodiversity, concentrations of endangered species, etc.   Such sustainability projects address the triple bottom line of economics, environment, and social concerns.