In November 2024, we implemented a risk-based approach to project reviews. Since then, this new approach has had a positive impact on our review times. After over a year of experience with and improvements to the project review process, we are now updating our service level agreements (SLAs) to reflect the updated review process and to make them more transparent. We also seek to better align the SLAs with the stages and complexity of reviews by program and request type to help our stakeholders more clearly understand review duration.

We shared the updated SLAs for Energy and Industrial Innovation projects and Natural Climate Solutions projects. A few highlights:

With regard to Energy and Industrial Innovation projects, Verra is equal to or below the current SLAs for the initial review and the total maximal review times.
For Natural Climate Solutions project reviews, the initial review time is a week or so longer than the current times, but the maximum review times have been reduced.

We also introduced SLAs for reviews of projects registered in Verra’s Plastic Waste Reduction Program.

The SLA overview table also now differentiates between request types. It shows that the review duration of verification requests is the shortest, followed by registration, followed by the review of registration and verification together. Lastly, the table now shows data for up to three rounds of project review reports (PRRs).

We are now also introducing SLA complexity levels—regular, high, and very high—to adjust the technical review durations based on the context of a particular review case. Verra is defining the complexity levels as follows:

If one complexity factor is present, it results in a “high” complexity level and increases the technical review time by 25%.
If two or more complexity factors are present, it results in a “very high” complexity level, increasing the technical review times by 50%

The complexity factors will be listed on our website.

If certain criteria apply to a project, the standard SLAs no longer apply. In such cases, Verra will reach out to project proponents and VVBs of these projects to let them know and to indicate when a response from Verra can be expected. Starting November 1, we will begin tracking against these new SLAs and make them available on the Verra Project Hub.