Plain-language answers. On the record.

Verra administers the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the largest-volume voluntary carbon programme globally, with strong methodology coverage in forestry, agriculture, blue carbon and renewable energy. The Gold Standard (GS4GG) was founded by WWF and other NGOs and emphasises sustainable-development co-benefits — it tends to be the standard of choice for clean cooking and community-energy projects. Many projects pursue both: VCS for credit issuance and Gold Standard or Verra CCB Standards for the co-benefit certification that commands a price premium.

Article 6 sets out the rules for international cooperation on emission reductions under the Paris Agreement. Article 6.2 governs bilateral cooperative approaches between countries (Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes, or ITMOs). Article 6.4 establishes a UN-supervised crediting mechanism — the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) — that succeeds the Clean Development Mechanism. Both require a host-country authorisation and a corresponding adjustment when credits are transferred internationally.

A corresponding adjustment (CA) is an accounting entry made by a host country when a carbon credit it has authorised is used toward another country's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) or compliance target. The host country adds the equivalent emissions back to its own inventory to prevent double counting. Credits that carry a verified corresponding adjustment are internationally transferable mitigation outcomes (ITMOs); credits without a CA remain "voluntary in character" and cannot be used by sovereign or compliance buyers.

Digital MRV refers to the use of satellite remote sensing (Sentinel-2, Landsat, SAR), IoT sensors, automated accounting pipelines, and machine-learning analytics to monitor carbon project activity continuously and at lower cost than traditional field-only methods. dMRV is increasingly required for buyer and validation-body confidence, and is a core part of how Supacare scopes any carbon project from the feasibility stage onwards.

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is a process by which indigenous peoples and affected local communities are consulted about — and may give or withhold consent for — projects on their lands. FPIC is a requirement under IFC Performance Standard 7, the World Bank ESS7, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the safeguard requirements of Verra (VCS, CCB), Gold Standard, and Plan Vivo. For carbon projects affecting indigenous peoples or community lands in Africa, FPIC is non-negotiable.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) is an independent governance body that publishes the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) — a benchmark for what counts as a high-integrity carbon credit. ICVCM assesses individual carbon-crediting programmes and methodologies for CCP eligibility. Buyers increasingly demand CCP-aligned credits to manage reputational and regulatory risk, and Supacare scopes new projects with ICVCM alignment in mind from the methodology-selection stage.

The IFC Performance Standards (PS1–PS8) are the International Finance Corporation's framework for managing environmental and social risk in projects it finances. PS1 (Assessment and Management) is foundational; the others cover labour, resource efficiency, community health, land acquisition, biodiversity, indigenous peoples, and cultural heritage. The Equator Principles (EP4, 2020) bind 140+ commercial banks to apply the IFC PS to project finance transactions above $10 million. Any project seeking development-finance or major commercial-bank financing in Africa is effectively required to meet these standards in parallel with national EIA law.

An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) is the upfront analysis of a project's likely environmental and social impacts. An Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) is the operational document that translates the ESIA's mitigation commitments into action — assigning responsibilities, monitoring frequencies, performance indicators, and audit cycles for the construction and operation phases. Lenders typically require an ESMP as a condition of disbursement.

ISO 14001 is a voluntary international standard for environmental management systems (EMS). It is not required by law in most jurisdictions, but is increasingly expected by lenders, buyers and supply-chain partners as evidence that an organisation manages its environmental impacts systematically. Supacare designs ISO 14001-aligned EMS without performing the third-party certification audit — that is conducted by an accredited certification body.

Project documentation is built to align with the standards relevant to each project — typically Verra (VCS, including VM0007, VM0042, VM0033, VM0048), Gold Standard for the Global Goals, Plan Vivo, Verra CCB Standards, Puro.earth, UNFCCC Article 6.2 / 6.4, IFC Performance Standards, the Equator Principles, the World Bank Environmental and Social Framework, ISO 14001, GRI, ISSB S1 / S2, TCFD, TNFD, SBTi, CDP, and the ICMA Green Bond Principles. Integrity benchmarks are taken from the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles and the VCMI Claims Code of Practice.

Supacare is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with project work focused on African markets — particularly East Africa, the Horn, and selected West and Southern African countries. The team works in English and Swahili.

The simplest starting point is a scoping conversation. Send us a one-page project concept via the contact form and we will return a feasibility-stage scoping note covering regulatory triggers, methodology fit, indicative timeline, and standards considerations — at no charge.