Verra approved the first carbon credits under its carbon capture and storage (CCS) methodology on Friday, clearing a northern Texas project to proceed, according to Carbon Pulse. The decision opens a crediting pathway for projects that capture CO2 and store it permanently, a supply category in which buyers seeking durable storage claims have so far had few approved options under the voluntary market’s largest standard.
Barnett Zero, a gas processing project in Bridgeport
Credits can now be issued to the Barnett Zero Project, registered as Verra Project 6016, in the city of Bridgeport, according to Verra. The project captures CO2 separated from raw natural gas at a processing plant, then compresses the CO2 and stores it permanently in an injection well nearby.
The project was developed by BKV Corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BKV, and verified by GHD Limited, the independent validation and verification body on the engagement, according to Verra. The approval was announced in Washington on 6 November 2026.
What VM0049 and module VMD0062 cover
The credits were generated under Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) methodology VM0049, Carbon Capture and Storage v1.0, which establishes criteria and procedures for quantifying greenhouse gas emission reductions and carbon dioxide removals from projects that capture CO2 and store it permanently, according to Verra. Friday’s decision is the first approval of credits under VM0049.
Barnett Zero pairs the core methodology with module VMD0062, CO2 Capture from Natural Gas Processing, to account for the emissions impact of diverting CO2 separated from natural gas streams and storing it permanently, according to Verra. Verra describes the module as addressing a specific and largely unavoidable emissions source from an energy source that will continue to be relied on as part of the net-zero transition.
What Verra and BKV say
Mandy Rambharos, Verra’s chief executive, called carbon capture and storage one of the most technically demanding approaches in the market, and said that capturing and permanently storing CO2 that would otherwise be vented from natural gas is real, measurable climate action, according to Verra. Barnett Zero is the first of many projects Verra expects to be using VM0049, Rambharos said.
For the developer, the approval feeds directly into a commercial product. Chris Kalnin, chief executive officer of BKV, called the approval of the first credits under Verra’s CCS methodology an important milestone for BKV and for the broader carbon management industry, according to Verra. BKV said it has become the first company to receive carbon credit certification from Verra for CO2 permanently sequestered through its CCUS operations, and that the certification allows it to monetize certified carbon credits and begin delivering its third-party-verified, carbon-neutral natural gas product under previously announced agreements with Kiewit and Gunvor, according to BKV.
Approval is not issuance, and volume is not yet public
The approval clears the project to receive credits; it does not yet put a quantified supply in front of buyers. Neither Verra nor BKV disclosed an issuance volume or a crediting period total in the 6 November announcements, so the scale of the first CCS supply under VM0049 remains an open data point for the market.
That distinction matters for procurement. Buyers assessing CCS credits for permanent storage claims can now point to a live, independently verified application of the methodology, but any forward contracting will rest on issuance volumes and delivery schedules that have not been published. Developers watching the VM0049 pathway, meanwhile, now have a first reference case showing how the methodology pairs with a capture module for natural gas processing.
What to watch
The first marker is the registry: actual credit issuance to Verra Project 6016 will show the initial volumes flowing from Barnett Zero. The second is pipeline depth, since Verra has framed the Texas approval as the first of many expected uses of VM0049. The third is demand structure, in particular whether BKV’s carbon-neutral natural gas agreements with Kiewit and Gunvor translate into offtake arrangements that other developers can replicate as CCS crediting scales.
