Science · Project staging

How we screen and progress carbon projects.

A three-stage screening process with investment committee gates at every step. We concentrate effort on the projects most likely to deliver high-quality credits at competitive prices.

Why staging matters

Discipline over enthusiasm.

Every nature-carbon project sits somewhere on a spectrum from “interesting idea” to “turnkey ready for investment”. We use a three-stage screening process to make sure capital only deploys against projects we have actively tested and de-risked.

The same investment committee gates the transition between each stage. If a project fails to clear a gate, we either rework it or stop. We never spend investor capital on early-stage exploratory work.

The process

Three stages, three gates.

01
Desk review · Pre-feasibility

Carbon ownership, delivery partners, and a defensible carbon estimate.

Mainly desk-based with optional site visits. We confirm carbon ownership and the route to credit issuance, verify that competent partners exist on the ground for outreach, agronomy and tree planting, and estimate likely sequestration over a 40-year horizon using published literature and satellite analysis.

We screen for risks that could stop a project: travel advisories, gang activity, corruption, conflicting land claims, and the absence of political support. Only projects that clear Stage 1 progress.

02
Field testing · PD drafting

Test the farmer offer, build the supplier chain, draft the project document.

A small team on the ground tests whether the approved Stage 1 project works in practice. A farmer offer is designed and trialled with randomly selected farmers to determine uptake. Suppliers are consulted, tendered and contracted with built-in redundancy across each stage of the workflow.

Sections of a Verra VM0047 or VM0033 Project Development document are drafted; we can also work with any high-standard certifier (Isometric, Equitable Earth, American Carbon Registry). A two-page in-country structure summary is submitted to the Stage 2 investment committee.

03
Turnkey ready · Investment-ready

Live, contracted and built to scale on the addition of capital.

Stage 3 only begins after Stage 2 committee approval and clear investor interest. The project SPV is structured, in-country leadership appointed (Project Manager, Outreach Manager, Operations Manager), supplier contracts signed and the first farm contracts executed.

Rotational grazing and reforestation interventions are implemented at small scale to prove efficient delivery. The carbon application is submitted to the investor’s chosen certifier. At this point the project is ready for full-scale investment deployment.

Project staging

Want the project-by-project breakdown?

Detailed project documents and stage gate evidence available under NDA. Get in touch to discuss the pipeline.

Talk to our team