Interview with re-carbon Validation and Verification Body
When Gold Standard set out its vision for Paris Agreement Alignment (PAA), the aim was clear: to ensure that Gold Standard methodologies and credits are consistent with 1.5°C trajectories. That meant not just publishing significantly updated methodologies and standard requirements, but also ensuring that the Validation and Verification Bodies (VVBs) responsible for auditing projects would be ready to assess them from day one.
Just 2 months after launching our PAA auditor training programme, 25 out of 30 Gold Standard-approved VVBs are prepared to begin PAA audits. 120 approved auditors have completed our 12-hour learning path, and over 180 additional auditors are in training. Meanwhile, the new certification requirements are clear, the first PAA-aligned methodologies have been published, and many more have been consulted with stakeholders. Collectively, the infrastructure for a new generation of high-integrity carbon projects is in place.
re-carbon is one of the VVBs leading this transformation of carbon markets together with Gold Standard. A Turkish-headquartered firm with roots in the carbon market dating back to 2011, re-carbon has been preparing for this transition to the Paris era since September 2025. We spoke to Christian Johannes, General Manager at re-carbon, about what that preparation looked like, what he is seeing from project developers, and why he believes PAA represents not just a new set of requirements, but a fundamental shift in what the carbon market is for.
1. Tell us about re-carbon. What characterises your organisation, your team and the types of projects you typically validate and verify?
re-carbon operates internationally under ANAB accreditation across a wide range of greenhouse gas programmes, methodologies and sectors. A significant part of our portfolio has historically consisted of Gold Standard projects, giving our team extensive experience with Gold Standard requirements, review processes and market developments.
Over the years, we have validated and verified projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management, methane reduction, energy access and sustainable agriculture across multiple regions. In Türkiye, we are the market-leading VVB.
Our auditors combine expertise in engineering, environmental sciences, agriculture, waste management and carbon accounting. As carbon markets become increasingly specialised, we believe that technical diversity and international experience are essential.
We tend to engage with new methodologies, requirements and market developments at an early stage. Whether it is Paris Agreement alignment, digital MRV, sustainable agriculture or carbon removals, we prefer to understand new concepts before they become everyday audit topics. This approach has helped us adapt to a carbon market that continues to evolve rapidly.
2. What role does Gold Standard play within your broader portfolio of validation and verification work?
Gold Standard has historically represented approximately 60% of our validation and verification activities and has been a major part of our development as a VVB.
Many of our auditors gained their first experience with carbon market projects through Gold Standard activities, particularly in renewable energy, energy access and sustainable development-focused projects.
As a result, we are very familiar with Gold Standard's requirements, review processes and expectations. This long-term experience has also allowed us to observe how the programme has evolved in response to changing market expectations and policy developments.
3. Six of re-carbon's auditors completed Gold Standard's PAA training and approval process within record time. What motivated you to invest in building this capability early?
We viewed PAA as an inevitable market development rather than a programme-specific requirement. For several years, we have observed a clear shift within the voluntary carbon market toward higher integrity, stronger additionality arguments and a greater focus on projects that deliver meaningful climate and sustainable development benefits. PAA is, in many ways, a natural continuation of that trend.
Our preparation therefore began well before the official training programme. We started conducting internal PAA workshops and training sessions in September 2025, allowing our auditors to familiarise themselves with the emerging concepts and proposed requirements at an early stage. Early preparation also gave us time to go beyond auditor qualification. We were able to review and update our procedures, reporting templates, competence requirements and internal qualification processes before the first Paris-aligned projects arrive in significant numbers.
Ultimately, we see PAA as an important step toward a voluntary carbon market that rewards projects delivering real climate benefits and meaningful positive impacts for local communities. We wanted to ensure that our team would be ready from day one.
4. How would you describe your experience of the PAA training programme? What aspects have been most valuable in preparing auditors for the new requirements?
Our experience with the PAA training programme has been very positive. One of its greatest strengths is that it not only explained what has changed, but also why these changes have been introduced and how they fit into the broader evolution of the voluntary carbon market.
We found it particularly useful that the training consistently compared Kyoto-era approaches with the new PAA framework. This made it much easier to understand both the technical changes and their practical implications for validation and verification activities. From an auditor's perspective, the discussions around dynamic baselines, DAFs, embodied emissions and updated leakage assessments were especially valuable. These concepts clearly illustrate how the market is evolving toward a more dynamic and environmentally robust approach.
The programme also provided practical guidance for VVBs, helping auditors translate new concepts into real-world audit activities. Beyond auditor qualification, it gave us a strong foundation for integrating PAA into our internal procedures, reporting templates, competence requirements and qualification processes.
5. How prepared do you feel your team is to conduct PAA-related audits, and where do you see the biggest learning opportunities as implementation begins?
We feel well prepared from a competence and procedural perspective. Our auditors have completed the qualification process, and we have already started integrating PAA requirements into our internal procedures, reporting templates and quality management system.
At the same time, we recognise that the real learning process begins when the requirements are applied to actual projects. Like any major transition, the move from Kyoto-era approaches to PAA frameworks will inevitably raise practical questions during the first audits, particularly when concepts such as DAFs, dynamic baselines and updated monitoring requirements are assessed under real-world conditions.
We therefore expect the greatest learning opportunities to come from the first generation of PAA projects, discussions with project developers, technical reviews and feedback from Gold Standard. That is entirely normal and part of the successful implementation of any new framework. As a team, we have always embraced continuous learning and adaptation, and we are confident that practical experience will quickly complement the strong foundation established through the training programme.
6. What support, guidance or resources have been most helpful in helping your organisation prepare for PAA?
The combination of training sessions, guidance documents, webinars and direct interaction with the Gold Standard team has been very helpful in preparing our organisation for PAA. Internally, we approached the transition as a team effort. We reviewed the requirements collectively, organised internal workshops and discussed practical implementation questions to ensure a consistent understanding across our auditor pool.
From a technical perspective, the draft methodologies and accompanying validation and verification guidance have been particularly valuable. One of the strengths of the new framework is that it places more information directly within the methodology and methodology-specific guidance, reducing the need to navigate multiple separate tools and requirements. This should ultimately make audits more streamlined, consistent and transparent.
That said, auditors probably learn most effectively through practical examples. As implementation progresses, real project cases, design change validations and review outcomes will become increasingly important. In our experience, consistency across multiple real-world applications is what ultimately gives auditors confidence in applying new requirements.
7. How are your clients responding to PAA requirements? Are project developers already engaging with you on implementation and audit readiness?
We are seeing increasing interest from project developers, although their responses vary depending on the type and maturity of their portfolios. Some clients are proactively "cleaning up" their existing portfolios and making sure that pre-2026 monitoring periods and credit issuances are completed under the current framework before the transition gathers pace. For these developers, the focus is on closing out existing activities efficiently and creating a clear starting point for future PAA projects.
Others, particularly renewable energy project developers, are closely following the development of PAA methodologies such as ACM0002 and AMS-I.D. Many of them are trying to understand what PAA will mean for existing renewable energy portfolios and whether (and under what conditions) these projects may continue to participate in carbon markets going forward. As a result, many discussions are currently focused on methodology transitions, ongoing financial need, project eligibility and the practical implications of the new requirements.
While the level of readiness varies, we have generally found developers to be pragmatic. They recognise that the market is evolving and that PAA will increasingly shape how future carbon projects are designed, assessed and financed.
8. There has been concern about whether enough qualified auditors would be available to support PAA without creating bottlenecks. Based on what you are seeing, how prepared do you think the market is?
We are somewhat more optimistic than many market observers. The challenge is not necessarily the number of approved auditors. The larger challenge will be ensuring consistent interpretation and application of the new requirements across different project types, regions and VVBs. Most experienced auditors are accustomed to adapting to new methodologies and programme requirements.
The key question is therefore less about capacity and more about achieving a common understanding of how the requirements should be applied in practice.
9. What do you see as the biggest opportunities that PAA creates for project developers and the wider carbon market?
PAA can help create a more credible and ultimately fairer voluntary carbon market. Carbon finance is limited. In our view, it should increasingly flow toward projects that can demonstrate both meaningful climate benefits and tangible benefits for local communities. Projects that genuinely reduce or remove greenhouse gases while creating positive social impacts should be rewarded.
At the same time, Paris Agreement Alignment should not be interpreted as a signal that traditional project types have somehow become irrelevant. A wind farm in Senegal does not automatically become a less valuable climate project simply because it is a wind farm. The carbon market should not forget that renewable energy projects created the foundation on which today's market is built.
Rather than replacing one generation of project types with another, PAA creates a framework in which both established and emerging activities can demonstrate their climate and sustainable development contributions. This is particularly relevant for countries such as Türkiye, which are known for renewable energy projects but also possess significant untapped potential in areas such as sustainable agriculture, soil organic carbon, rice methane reduction and biochar.
Ultimately, PAA is not only about raising the bar for existing projects but also about broadening the range of activities that can access carbon finance. A more diverse project portfolio will strengthen the resilience, credibility and long-term relevance of the voluntary carbon market.
10. What challenges do you expect auditors, project developers or standards bodies to face during the transition?
One of the main challenges will be dealing with the inevitable "unknowns" that accompany any major transition. Most concepts associated with PAA are relatively straightforward at a high level. The more difficult task is applying them consistently across different project types, methodologies and real-world circumstances.
Another challenge is that auditors, project developers, consultants and standards bodies are all learning simultaneously. During the early stages of implementation, differences in interpretation and varying levels of readiness are inevitable. This may lead to additional discussions around topics such as DAF application, dynamic baselines, grandfathering provisions and other methodology-specific requirements.
We also expect some project developers to face challenges in understanding the practical implications of the new framework, particularly where changes may affect project eligibility, monitoring approaches or expected credit volumes. However, this should not be viewed as a weakness of the system. It is a normal part of any major transition. In our experience, practical implementation, review feedback and open dialogue between project developers, VVBs and standards bodies will quickly lead to a common understanding and consistent application of the new requirements.
11. Looking beyond PAA, what trends do you think will shape the carbon market over the next 1-2 years?
We expect continued growth in carbon removals, sustainable agriculture and technology-assisted monitoring systems. At the same time, we believe the market will continue to move away from purely volume-driven approaches and toward a stronger focus on quality, transparency and scientific robustness.
We also expect project assessments to become increasingly multidisciplinary, requiring expertise that goes beyond traditional carbon accounting and into areas such as agriculture, soil science, remote sensing and data analytics. However, we do not believe that this trend should be interpreted as a move away from renewable energy projects. Renewable energy helped build the voluntary carbon market into what it is today and has delivered substantial climate benefits over the past two decades. In many regions, renewable energy projects continue to face barriers and continue to provide meaningful emission reductions and sustainable development benefits. The future carbon market should build on these successes rather than disregard them. At the same time, buyers are becoming more selective. Ten years ago, the discussion was often about the number of credits generated. Today, the discussion is increasingly about why those credits exist, whether the climate benefits are real, and whether the project creates meaningful value beyond carbon.
We are also seeing increasing interest in the robustness of monitoring systems, transparency of reporting and the credibility of project claims. In our view, this is a healthy development. Carbon markets do not need more credits; they need more confidence. The projects that succeed in the coming years will not necessarily be those that generate the highest volume of credits, but those that can most convincingly demonstrate real climate benefits, transparent monitoring and meaningful impacts on the ground. Projects that combine robust carbon accounting with clear environmental and social benefits are likely to be particularly well positioned in an increasingly selective market.
12. What advice would you give to auditors that have not yet started preparing for PAA?
Start sooner rather than later. PAA is not simply a new set of templates or reporting requirements. It reflects a broader shift toward higher integrity, stronger additionality arguments and a greater focus on demonstrating real climate and sustainable development benefits. Auditors who start preparing early will have more time to understand the underlying concepts, develop competence and adapt their internal systems.
Those who understand the rationale behind the new requirements will generally find it much easier to apply them consistently than those who focus only on the procedures and templates. As with any major transition, preparation is significantly easier before projects begin arriving in large numbers.
13. Is there anything else you think the market should understand about the role of VVBs in ensuring high-integrity carbon markets?
VVBs are sometimes perceived as the final checkpoint before credits are issued. In reality, their role is broader. A good VVB provides an independent assessment of whether a project complies with the applicable rules and whether the evidence supports the claims being made. This independent scrutiny is one of the foundations on which confidence in carbon markets is built.
As markets evolve, VVBs must continuously invest in competence, independence and technical expertise. High-integrity carbon markets require high-integrity project developers, standards bodies and buyers, but they also require strong and credible assurance providers.
Ultimately, carbon markets function only if market participants trust the underlying claims, and independent assurance plays a central role in maintaining that trust
PAA is not a barrier to market participation
re-carbon's experience illustrates an important point: PAA is a framework that rewards the projects, developers and auditors who are serious about delivering real climate impact. As Johannes said, PAA is “an inevitable market development” which “reflects a broader shift toward higher integrity, stronger additionality arguments and a greater focus on demonstrating real climate and sustainable development benefits.”
Johannes advises that auditors start preparing early. By providing VVBs with training, tools and templates, we are equipping them to do just that.