Verra has issued 721,649 Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) to Brightly, the first credits generated under the registry's VM0046 methodology for reducing food loss and waste, the company announced Wednesday.

The credits recognize avoided emissions when edible surplus food reaches human consumption rather than landfill, anaerobic digestion or composting. Brightly developed the project with Feeding America partner food banks and independent food rescue groups operating across the U.S. between March 2020 and December 2023.

How much food qualifies?

Participating organizations rescued 15.3 billion pounds of food over the 45-month project period. After Brightly applied historical baselines and project-level emissions accounting, 3.1 billion pounds met the qualifying threshold under VM0046 and generated the 721,649 VCUs.

Each VCU represents one metric ton of avoided greenhouse gas emissions tied specifically to keeping qualifying food in the human consumption stream.

Who validated the credits?

SCS Global Services ran the independent validation and verification before Verra approved the issuance. BeZero Carbon, a carbon ratings agency, gave the credits an A ex-ante rating, indicating a high likelihood each credit represents one avoided metric ton of CO2 equivalent.

The structure tracks the validation chain used in voluntary carbon markets for landfill gas and avoided methane credits, though VM0046 applies a baseline comparison rather than direct emissions monitoring.

What happens to the proceeds?

Brightly will return most net proceeds from credit sales to participating food rescue organizations. The funding can finance:

• Refrigerated trucks
• Driver wages
• Cold storage infrastructure
• Warehouse space
• Staff for sorting and distribution

That structure treats the credits as a working capital mechanism for nonprofits, rather than as a corporate offset program with revenue retained by the project operator.

What scale does the program already operate at?

Brightly currently works with:

• 198 Feeding America partner food banks
• 28 independent nonprofit food rescue organizations
• Communities across all 50 states
• Coverage of approximately 97% of U.S. counties

How will the credits reach buyers?

Brightly has partnered with Xpansiv, the environmental commodities exchange, to bring the VM0046 credits to market. That listing gives corporate buyers and offset purchasers access through a registered trading platform rather than bilateral off-take agreements.

Where does the methodology go from here?

VM0046 supported its first registered project earlier this year. Until now, food waste carbon projects have typically relied on avoided methane methodologies at landfill or anaerobic digester sites, or on project-specific approaches outside any standardized protocol.

The new methodology gives food rescue operators, often operating on thin margins, a registry-grade asset class tied directly to tonnage diverted from disposal.

Brightly founder and CEO Andy Levitt framed the issuance as a structural link between climate and hunger policy.

"Brightly was founded on the belief that addressing climate change and hunger go hand in hand," Levitt said.

What milestone decides what happens next?

The market test now shifts to credit buyers. Brightly must convert the 721,649 VCUs into purchase commitments from food manufacturers, retailers or voluntary carbon market intermediaries willing to accept VM0046 units at a price point consistent with BeZero's A ex-ante rating.

The next registry milestone to watch is Verra's first re-issuance under VM0046 to a separate operator. That second project will determine whether the methodology produces repeatable, comparable results across different food rescue operators, geographies and baseline assumptions, which will decide whether VM0046 becomes a standard offset category or remains a single-developer program.