Project scale
Projects are micro, small or large scale, based on their annual net GHG reductions or removals: up to 10,000, up to 60,000, and above 60,000 tCO2e per year.
Scale thresholds
| Scale | Net reductions or removals per year |
|---|---|
| Micro | Up to 10,000 tCO2e |
| Small | Above 10,000 and up to 60,000 tCO2e |
| Large | Above 60,000 tCO2e |
All CPAs in a Programme of Activities must be the same scale.
Changed in version 1.1: the thresholds were 20,000 and 100,000 tCO2e a year under Carbon Standard v1.0. See What’s new in version 1.1.
Why scale matters
- Registration fee: INR 20,000 for micro and small projects, INR 50,000 for large projects.
- Additionality: micro-scale projects are automatically additional, and some small-scale projects are too. See Additionality.
- Safeguards: micro-scale projects carry out a preliminary study instead of a full ESIA, and do not report on safeguards in each monitoring report. See Safeguards.
- Auditors: micro-scale projects can use an Independent VVB Expert (IVVE) instead of a VVB. See IVVEs.
- Site visits: VVBs may skip the site visit for micro-scale projects unless NCCF requires one.
- Issuance cap: if a micro or small project achieves more than its threshold in a monitoring period, MCUs are issued only up to the threshold.
The materiality thresholds VVBs use are set on different size bands (20,000 and 100,000 tCO2e). See Materiality and level of assurance.
Sources
- Carbon Standard v1.1, sections 9.5, 9.12, 9.15 and 13.5
- Validation and Verification Standard v1.1, sections 9, 10.5 and 12.2
- Fee Schedule, item 4
