What consent should a carbon project record from each farmer?
Record who agreed, to what, when, how and in front of whom, in a language the farmer understands, and keep the consent text version with it. Verra's VCS Standard v5.0 also expects plain information about credits and verification, a grievance channel from the first meeting, and no pressure on anyone to agree.
What VCS Standard v5.0 asks of the project
- Information in simple terms in the local language, with translation where needed.
- No pressure, intimidation or coercion, from the project or anyone else, and no retaliation for withholding consent.
- Access to the project's grievance channel from the earliest meetings.
- Each consultation documented: topics, decisions, attendees and signatures of group representatives.
- A record of input by source and date, with private details kept private.
- Direct contact between the verifier and stakeholders during audits and site visits.
What farmers should be told first
- How carbon markets work and how credits are registered, verified and issued.
- What the project will do, where, for how long, and how it affects their land.
- The risks found and how they will be handled.
- Progress, including monitoring results, as the project runs.
A consent record that holds up
- Date, place and how consent was given.
- The agent's name and the consent text version.
- What data is collected, who sees it and how long it is kept.
- How to withdraw, and what happens to the data then.
- For practice data, VM0051 accepts a digital record of the farmer confirming the information shown in an app as a signed attestation.
When v5.0 applies
These stakeholder rules are required for Verra projects starting on or after 1 July 2027. An earlier project can still follow them, and its farmers lose nothing if it does.
What Senseible does here
On Senseible's field app an agent registers each farmer in person and records consent: when, how, by whom and the consent text version. There are no Aadhaar, PAN or bank fields, and erasure removes a farmer's name and phone while field records stay under a pseudonymous id, as the consent text says.
Sources: Verra, VCS Standard, v5.0 (16 December 2025): Sections 3.6, 3.17 and 4.1, Verra, VM0051 v1.1 methodology document: Sections 1, 3, 4 and 9.3, Box 1 and Appendix 4 (DMRV), Verra, VCS Program Details: rules, versions and effective dates (v4 documents active until 1 July 2027)
Last reviewed 2026-11-02.