A carbon credit can be sold in two forms: as a unit a registry has already issued, or as a promise of units the registry will issue later. Either way, the buyer pays for something the registry records, and a careful buyer checks that record before paying. This guide follows a project from its first document to the sale, then lists what buyers check, so that you can have the answers ready. It uses Verra’s VCS Program and Gold Standard as examples; other programmes follow the same logic under their own names and rules.
What you actually sell
On the Verra registry, one Verified Carbon Unit (VCU) represents one metric tonne of carbon dioxide reduced or removed from the atmosphere, and the registry tracks every unit from issuance to retirement. Each issued block has serial numbers. When a company uses credits for a claim, it retires them: Verra describes retired units as «taken out of circulation so they can only be used for such a purpose once».
The sale itself is a contract between you and the buyer. Verra states that «any negotiations and purchase agreements between the project developers and the buyers are established outside Verra Registry». What the registry records is the delivery: a transfer of the units from your account to the buyer’s, or their retirement on the buyer’s behalf.
So there are two things you can sell:
- Issued credits. They already sit in your registry account, and you can deliver them by transfer as soon as the contract is signed.
- Future credits. You sell credits that will be issued after a future verification, under a forward or offtake contract. The buyer takes the risk that fewer credits are issued than expected, and the contract has to say what happens then.
From idea to issued credits: the registry steps
Most programmes follow the same sequence: a design that an independent body checks, registration, monitoring, a second independent check of the results, and issuance. The names differ, and some programmes, such as the Climate Action Reserve, check eligibility at the first verification instead of in a separate validation.
| Step | Verra (VCS Program) | Gold Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Design | You list the project in Verra’s pipeline with a draft project description; it goes through a 30-day public comment period | Stakeholder consultation and safeguards, then a preliminary review by Gold Standard |
| 2. Validation | An independent validation/verification body (VVB), which you hire, validates the project | A Gold Standard approved VVB validates the design and monitoring system |
| 3. Registration | After a successful validation, you request registration with Verra | A design certification review; once approved, the project has «Gold Standard Certified Design» status |
| 4. Monitoring | You monitor the emission reductions or removals | You monitor the project’s impacts |
| 5. Verification | A VVB verifies the monitored results; you request verification approval through the Verra Registry | An approved VVB verifies the results; a performance review follows and gives «Certified Gold Standard Project» status |
| 6. Issuance | You request the issuance of VCUs through the registry | The issuance fee is invoiced, and the credits are issued into the project’s registry account once it is paid |
Three practical points follow from this sequence:
- You need a registry account on your programme’s registry to receive the issued credits and to deliver them. Credits change hands by a transfer between registry accounts; a certificate, such as a retirement certificate, records the result but does not move the credits.
- Monitoring and verification repeat. Each new batch of credits needs a monitored period and a verification of that period. The credits a buyer can receive in a given year depend on when your next verification is done.
- The design has a limited life. Crediting periods end; a renewable one is renewed under the rules then in force (at Gold Standard, steps 7 and 8, with the newest methodology versions), and a fixed one is not renewed. A buyer of future credits should check that the crediting period covers the vintages you are selling.
The ways to sell
- A forward or offtake contract with a buyer who commits to buy future issuances, often before the first verification. It can fund the project’s costs, but the contract must cover what happens if credits are issued late or in smaller numbers: delivery dates, substitution with other credits, refunds.
- A broker or trader, who finds the buyer and may take the credits on its own books. Ask whether it acts as your agent, for a commission, or buys from you to resell.
- A marketplace or exchange, where issued credits are listed and sold, often on standard terms.
- A direct sale to a company that buys for its own claim. It usually means the most detailed checks from the buyer.
Whatever the channel, the credits themselves move only on the registry, by a transfer or a retirement, with their serial numbers.
What buyers check before they pay
Most of what a buyer needs is public: your project’s documents and its registry record. CarbonMeld’s analysis reads the same public documents. A careful buyer goes through them in the order the project produced them:
- The three identifiers: the registry ID, the standard, and the methodology with its version. If an offer gives no registry ID, a buyer will ask for it before anything else.
- The project design document (the project description on the Verra registry): the baseline, the additionality argument and the monitoring plan, and whether the methodology version was valid when the project was registered or renewed.
- The validation report: who validated, when, and whether every finding was closed.
- The monitoring and verification reports for the periods your credits come from: claimed reductions against the design’s estimate, gaps between periods, the verifier’s opinion and the verified amount.
- The registry’s issuance records: credits issued against the verified amount, less any deduction the programme makes (for example credits set aside in a buffer pool for non-permanence risk), and the serial numbers of the block you offer.
- The labels the units carry. The ICVCM approves programmes and methodology categories, but the registry attaches the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label to the credits themselves, so a buyer checks the label on your units. For airlines, ICAO’s list sets which programmes and unit dates are eligible for CORSIA, and units from 2021 onward need the host country’s authorization. If a buyer needs an Article 6 authorization and a corresponding adjustment, it will look for them on the registry.
Our carbon credit due diligence checklist goes through each of these documents with what to check and what makes a buyer look twice. Read it as the list of questions you will be asked.
What this means for you as a seller:
- Publish the full document set on the registry. A buyer can only check what is public.
- Explain the numbers before you are asked. If the claimed reductions are far above the design’s estimate, or there is a gap between monitoring periods, say why in your offer.
- Have the serial numbers ready, and the registry ID, vintages and quantities that match the registry’s own records.
What moves the price
Price follows quality and risk, not the tonne alone. The usual drivers are the credit type (avoidance or removal), nature-based or engineered, durability and reversal risk, co-benefits and safeguards, geography and reputational risk, the standard, the methodology and the quality of monitoring, any external assessment the buyer uses, and supply and demand in that particular category. Labels that buyers ask for, such as the CCP label or CORSIA eligibility, can change who can use your credits for a given claim or scheme.
What the contract should say
- The units: standard, methodology, project registry ID, vintages and quantities, and any label or eligibility the buyer requires.
- Delivery on the registry: a transfer to the buyer’s registry account, or a retirement in the buyer’s name, by a set date.
- If credits are late or fewer: substitution, a later delivery date or a refund.
- Title: that you own the credits, have not sold them to anyone else, and that they carry no encumbrance.
- Who pays the registry’s transfer and retirement fees.
- Retirement details, if you retire for the buyer: the beneficiary’s name and the purpose recorded on the registry, and the retirement record you hand over.
How CarbonMeld shows your project
Every project CarbonMeld tracks has a page with its registry record. Where a current analysis exists, the page also shows CarbonMeld’s overall score, with its confidence, method version and date, and how many of the project’s registry documents the analysis read. The score is CarbonMeld’s own document-based assessment, for information only: it is not investment advice, and it is not a rating from the registry or from the standard. Our guide Carbon credit ratings explained explains how to read one.
If you find an error in the analysis of your project, the «Contest this rating» link on its page sends it to us. You can look up any project, including yours, in the project database.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell carbon credits before they are issued? Yes, through a forward or offtake contract. The registry can only transfer credits once they are issued, so the contract has to set delivery dates and say what happens if fewer credits are issued.
Who issues carbon credits? The programme, on its registry, after an independent body has verified the project’s results for a monitoring period: Verra issues VCUs on the Verra Registry, and Gold Standard issues its credits into the project’s account on its Impact Registry.
Where is the sale recorded? The contract itself stays outside the registry. The registry records the delivery, as a transfer between accounts or as a retirement, with the serial numbers of the credits.
What do buyers check first? The registry ID, the standard and the methodology version, then the documents in order: design, validation, monitoring, verification and the registry’s issuance records, and the labels the credits carry.
