Voluntary Emission Reductions (VERs) are carbon credits provided by emission reduction projects that have attained voluntary third party approval but have not been certified by official UN-backed offsetting schemes such as the Clean Development Mechanism.
They are the voluntary market equivalent of the certified emission reductions (CERs) awarded under the CDM.
VERs tend to be awarded by smaller scale community-based emission reduction projects that can not afford to go through the CDM approval process.
They are typically purchased by businesses anbd individuals seeking to offset their own carbon emissions.