5 must-ask questions to identify a high-quality carbon project

March 11, 2025 at 11:01 AM EDT

(BPT) - High-quality carbon projects, funded by verified carbon credits, are an effective way to help reduce emissions, support local communities and make an impact for the planet and its people. Unfortunately, not all carbon projects are created equally. From questions about the overall efficacy of projects to uncertainty about project financials and doubts about the additional benefits they provide, it can be tough to cut through the noise and find a project you can trust.

Here are five simple questions you can ask before supporting a carbon project that will ensure you're selecting one with real impact.

Is the project based on sound science and does it actively reduce emissions?

This one may seem obvious, but verifying that a project is actually achieving its stated emissions goals is a crucial component of ensuring the project is a high-quality one. If a project doesn't embrace transparency and isn't willing to share all relevant internal data with you, that's a big red flag.

High-quality carbon projects should have nothing to hide - for instance, from the years 2020 to 2024, the Cool Effect team retired 7,677,832 tonnes of carbon, and each of those individual tonnes can be tracked, traced, confirmed and verified to have occurred.

On average, rural Indian homes use less than 400 kWh of electricity per year - but a single solar panel, installed via a high-quality carbon project like the one above, can provide 355 kWh per panel, meaning that thanks to just one carbon project, 4,000+ families living in 16,000 villages can gain access to clean energy, improve their air quality and save money on fuel.

Are the emissions reductions additional?

Additionality is the concept that without income from carbon credits the project itself could not exist - meaning that a project is additional only if:

it is not already legally required to do what it is doing
it is not profitable without revenue from carbon credits
there are barriers that prevent its implementation regardless of profitability
it does not employ technologies that are already in common use

Cool Effect projects protected roughly 2,226,936 hectares of land from 2020 to 2024, prioritizing additionality by incentivizing the protection of vulnerable land, securing biodiversity and carbon sequestration benefits that would otherwise not have occurred.

Does the project provide benefits to local communities where they are based?

Any high-quality carbon project doesn't just make an impact on the planet, it makes an impact for its people as well. The financial impact and benefits of reducing emissions is easy to calculate - in America alone, for every one dollar spent on programs to reduce emissions, its citizens receive nine dollars of benefits to public health and the environment.

An Imperial College University study also showed that for every tonne of CO2 emissions removed from the atmosphere through a carbon credit project, a value of $664 is delivered in economic, social and environmental benefits for local communities where those projects are based.

For example, in just five short years, Cool Effect sent $66,152,974 to carbon projects around the world, which helped 43 communities in Mexico gain financial support and job security through sustainable forestry initiatives. During that same time, just some of those funds helped install over 90,000 clean burning cookstoves in Honduras, reducing household air pollution in homes by 47%, providing 250 new jobs for local communities, and directly impacting the lives of over 350,000 people.

Young man standing next to a stove in a cabin

Local Honduran families can breathe a little easier thanks to these brand-new clean burning cookstoves, installed by project team members with the help of high-quality carbon projects.

High-quality carbon credits can provide real, tangible benefits for the communities where they're based - just make sure the ones you select are making an impact for more than emissions.

Has the project issued credits from a major carbon standard?

A carbon standard is essentially a set of rules and guidelines that establish quality control for carbon offset projects. There are close to 10,000 active carbon projects in the world today, but only about 7,500 are registered with a recognized carbon standard like Verra, VCS, Gold Standard and the Climate Action Reserve - and even fewer of those meet the standards for high-quality carbon offsets. Adhering to a standard is a good first step, but it doesn't guarantee the projects will be high quality - throughout its history, Cool Effect's team has reviewed over 5,000 carbon projects and even then only about 1% of those passed their verification process.

Is the project pricing transparent?

It's not enough that a carbon project lays bare its scientific and operational methodologies; its finances need to be an open book as well. To encourage radical transparency in the world of carbon, Cool Effect introduced The Seller's Pledge, a legal commitment to pricing transparency made to any buyer of carbon credits from its platform. Over 90% of every donation goes directly to project partners, and there are never any hidden fees. The only fee Cool Effect places on any donation is a 9.87% fee which is disclosed to both the buyer and the project developer.

Cool Effect Blue Carbon projects have generated enough funds to plant 40,931,340 mangroves like these between 2020 and 2024 - absorbing carbon, creating jobs and protecting coastlines, all without hidden fees of any kind.

When using carbon credits to make an impact for the planet and its people, don't just choose a carbon project - choose a Carbon Done Correctly project. Look for projects that incorporate trusted science, transparent financials, tangible co-benefits and verified impact.

Through the recent release of a landmark Impact Report, Cool Effect demonstrates how its transparent pricing policy has mobilized substantial capital to support high-quality projects that execute urgently needed climate mitigation. Download the Impact Report at cooleffect.org/impact to see the real impact that carbon can make on the planet and its people.

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5 must-ask questions to identify a high-quality carbon project

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