Ontoly has published Version 1.2 of the Building Emissions Reduction Standard (BERS) and Version 1.1 of the BERS Validation and Verification Standard, approved by the independent BERS Governance Board on July 28, 2026. The centerpiece of the update is a second, independent layer of project validation. We designed these updates to further strengthen the BERS Program against the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles and Assessment Framework, and these updates form a key component of Ontoly's resubmitted application for CCP-Eligibility.

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The ICVCM publishes the status of program assessments on its public Assessment Status page (icvcm.org/assessment-status). In the same spirit, we are publishing both versions of our 2026 CCP program application — the initial application submitted on May 19, 2026 and the resubmission incorporating the strengthened standards, submitted on July 30, 2026, within the ICVCM's July 2026 application window — so that building owners, buyers, and the wider market can see exactly how our program is evolving to continuously raise the bar for quality:

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📄 Ontoly — ICVCM CCP Program Application — May 19, 2026 [link to PDF]

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📄 Ontoly — ICVCM CCP Program Application (Resubmission) — July 30, 2026 [link to PDF]

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Since launch, every BERS project has been required to undergo validation through Eligible Validation Documentation: a professional engineering assessment of the retrofit design and projected utility savings, prepared and signed by a licensed Professional Engineer under IPMVP or IREE — the same measurement and verification standards the buildings industry itself relies on. Under BERS v1.2, that engineering layer is now complemented by a second, mandatory layer: independent third-party Validation by a Validation and Verification Body (VVB) accredited to ISO 14065 and ISO 14066 by a full member of the International Accreditation Forum, conducting validations in accordance with ISO 14064-3. The VVB assesses the full project design — eligibility, baseline, additionality, safeguards, monitoring plan, and Ontoly's ex-ante quantification — before a project can achieve Validated status, or concurrently with its first verification. Critically, VVBs are contracted and paid solely by Ontoly, never by project proponents, severing the financial link between the assessed party and the assessor.

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The updates also strengthen the program's integrity architecture end to end: mandatory VVB rotation limits and expanded conflict-of-interest disclosure covering validation, verification, and combined engagements; VVB performance oversight including reporting of significant concerns to the relevant accreditation body; mandatory SDG reporting for every project, including consistency with host-country sustainable development priorities; and registry controls making cancellation and retirement of every BERU permanent, final, and irreversible.

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Alongside the standards, Ontoly has published its full supporting document suite, including the Validation Report and Verification Report templates provided to VVBs, the VVB Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form, an updated Fee Schedule, a Wind Down Policy, and Ontoly's Social and Environmental Commitments. All program documents are freely available at www.ontoly.org/bers-program, and the first projects are publicly viewable on the Ontoly Registry at registry.ontoly.org — because a credible carbon market starts with everything in the open.

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As always, no BERUs are ever issued on projections: issuance under BERS remains exclusively ex-post, based on actual metered utility data, independently verified every year.

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Questions about the updates or the BERS Program: info@ontoly.org.

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