As the US celebrates Labor Day this Sept. 4, we’re pleased to announce a new mechanism for valuing the indispensable labor of women worldwide, in relation to climate change actions. Carbon project developers have a new resource for integrating quantifiable women’s empowerment and social benefits into their carbon projects. WOCAN’s W+ Standard, the first global standard for quantifying women’s empowerment in project implementation, is partnering with the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program, the leading global standard for the voluntary carbon market, to offer Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) jointly labeled under both standards.

1. 8/29/17
Media Alert: VCS and WOCAN partner to link co-benefits of women’s
empowerment with carbon projects.
As the US celebrates Labor Day this Sept. 4, we’re pleased to announce a new mechanism for valuing
the indispensable labor of women worldwide, in relation to climate change actions. Carbon project
developers have a new resource for integrating quantifiable women’s empowerment and social
benefits into their carbon projects. WOCAN’s W+ Standard, the first global standard for quantifying
women’s empowerment in project implementation, is partnering with the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)
Program, the leading global standard for the voluntary carbon market, to offer Verified Carbon Units
(VCUs) jointly labeled under both standards.
Through WOCAN and VCS, project developers using the VCS Program can apply the W+ standard to
demonstrate contributions to women’s empowerment, advancing progress on Sustainable Development
Goal #5 for gender equality and on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interests.
"Engaging and empowering women in project communities will create better project outcomes and
improve lives. WOCAN is excited to collaborate with VCS and to enable credible, measurable social co-
benefits in carbon projects."
• Jeannette Gurung, Executive Director, WOCAN
The W+ Standard is designed to be implemented with carbon or non-carbon projects in ways that are
flexible, yet measurable and verifiable. It includes six specific categories to integrate and measure
women’s empowerment results gained in relation to: Leadership, Health, Food Security, Time, Income &
Assets, and Education & Knowledge. WOCAN sees the potential to drive investments to projects that
support women’s empowerment and provide women with recognition and compensation for their
contributions to climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience, and community development. Based on past
performance of VCUs labeled with other additional benefits, projects that include the co-benefit of
women’s empowerment to generate “W+ Labelled VCUs” are likely to be more highly valued in the
marketplace.
VCS and WOCAN will be presenting this new partnership and product in New York City at Climate
Week, on September 19th at 10:30am at the Carbon Forum North America, and on September 20th from
1 - 3pm at the Hilton Garden Inn Park Avenue.
“At VCS, we understand the essential role of women and women's work in addressing climate change
and ensuring community resiliency. We are delighted to enter this new partnership with WOCAN to
highlight those projects that empower women as they contribute to reducing carbon emissions.”
• David Antonioli, CEO, VCS
VCS is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports ambitious action through standards
frameworks that deliver significant social and environmental benefits within the context of climate change.
For more information, visit www.v-c-s.org

2. WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management) is a
U.S.based 501 (c) (3) that is an international network of over 1200 members in 112 countries with offices
in the US, Europe and Asia. WOCAN works with women’s groups to increase their access and control
over resources, gain greater voice and decision making, and build effective relationships for knowledge
sharing, leadership and the development of more gender-responsive policies, plans and budgets.
WOCAN is the recipient of the 2016 United Nation’s Momentum for Change Women for Results award for
the W+ Standard and its application to a biogas project in Nepal that saved women over 2.2 hours/day
and generated funds for 12 women’s groups.
Media inquiries:
Kate Heller . VCS Communications Manager . kheller@v-c-s.org . 202 470 5665
Jeannette Gurung, Executive Director, WOCAN. jeannettegurung@wocan.org 808 464 1703