Dr. Lakmini Senadheera elected to global standards body VERRA for Plastic Footprinting, Offsetting

The world at large is demanding plastic loudly and according to many experts, the figure could double within the next 20 years, as will the generation of plastic along with the environmental consequences for landfills and water bodies.

As a solution to this global issue, Verra and BVRio, together with Steering Committee members Conservation International, Danone, Natural Capital Partners, Nestlé, South Pole, SYSTEMIQ, Tetra Pak and Veolia have established the 3R Protocol (Reduce, Recover, Recycle). 

Verra is a non-profit organisation based in Washington D.C. which supports efforts to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, improve livelihoods and protect ecosystems. It supports climate action and sustainable development with standards and programs that credibly, transparently and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up these benefits. 

Projects looking to generate waste reduction credits will be assessed against the 3R Standard for Project Accounting. Verra established a Project Standard Development Committee with the objective of helping to ensure that only high-quality projects achieving their stated waste-reduction outcomes will be credited and that its widespread use will result in a significant increase in recovery and recycling rates around the world. The Head of Sri Lanka’s leading Sustainability Assurance and Advisory Services, The Sustainable Future Group, Dr. Lakmini Senadheera was selected as a member of this global team of experts. 

One of Sri Lanka’s foremost environmental sustainability experts and a ground-breaking first mover in the field of forestry-based carbon credits in the country, Dr. Senadheera brings a vast array of expertise to the table. One of 18 global awardees of the prestigious Kinship Conservation Fellowship and one of eight Fellows of the World Forest Institute International Fellowship 2020, she specialises in market-based tools used in conservation and is experienced in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) quantification and verification. 

Dr. Senadheera is also a Lead Auditor for the ISO 14001: 2015 - Environmental Management Systems and a qualified Lead Verifier in ISO 14064 for the quantification and reporting of GHG emissions and reductions and removals. In addition, she is a trained Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Consultant and certified as a Resource Efficient Cleaner Production Consultant in Water Footprinting and Auditing and is a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Consultant. 

Commencing her distinguished career at The Carbon Consulting Company, Dr. Senadheera subsequently transferred to The Sustainable Future Group, Sri Lanka’s only accredited sustainability certification and verification consulting company, which she has led from its inception. 

“Annually 400 million metric tonnes of plastic are estimated to be consumed globally, which makes an average consumption of close to 53 kg per person and adds on to the plastic waste epidemic. The 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) Global Standards for Plastic Credits will set the required standards for the assessment of a plastic footprint and will enable a set off against Plastic Credits,” remarked Dr. Senadheera.

To catalyse zero plastic waste leadership, the 3R Initiative (3RI) is developing a market-based approach that will scale up recovery and recycling activities and increase accountability for plastic waste reduction efforts around the world. The 3RI’s flexible mechanism, underpinned by robust standards, will transparently and sustainably increase the value of plastic waste and incentivise new activities that support the circular economy. The initiative will achieve these objectives by developing the 3R standard for project and corporate accounting, which will enable corporates to substantially increase their internal and external efforts to cut plastic pollution. The 3R standard for corporate accounting enables corporates to robustly assess and report on their plastic waste footprint, and to communicate credible mitigation actions. The 3R standard for project accounting will enable robust impact assessment of new or scaled-up waste recovery and recycling projects or investments.