Certification & Verification
Plan Vivo standards
The Plan Vivo standard is recommended by the UK Governments Carbon Trust as one of the most credible schemes for carbon offsetting using land use and forestry in their guidance document for offsetting opportunities. Click here to view the document.
Certification
BioClimate Research & Development, an independent not-for-profit company ensures impartiality. BR&D issue certificates annually for projects which meet the Plan Vivo standards. Projects are assessed by BR&D based on an evaluation at the end of each calendar year. The Annual reports document this information and include technical review, risk review, and reserve analysis. Corrective actions are given for areas which require improvement, (for example where replacement trees need to be planted for those which have died) and BR&D ensure that these actions are implemented. Once it is confirmed that the project are adhering to the Plan Vivo standards, certificates are issued to the buyers.
Independent verification
Every few years verification is carried out by an independent body to ensure project quality and continuous improvement over time. Specialist expertise is also given by ECCM who design the technical specifications for the land use options, and advisors from the University of Edinburgh contribute to the underpinning research on the Plan Vivo model. All methodologies are peer reviewed before they are implemented. Plan Vivo projects also aim to be transparent and systems can be viewed by investors and purchases.
Monitoring
Monitoring including tree survival rate is carried out by the project team and local trained staff. Measurements of growth and biomass are gathered and are used in the calculations to estimate carbon. In some projects additional data are collected for research into other areas including forest fires. Internal monitoring through the year with a yearly project report is repeated over a period of 10 to 15 years.