What share of carbon credit money should reach the farmer?
Verra's rules set no percentage. Its VCS Standard v5.0 makes projects that affect land or resource rights holders design a benefit-sharing plan with them, show projected revenues and costs up front, and report costs and revenue every year. Judge an offer by that disclosure, not by a headline percentage.
What VCS Standard v5.0 requires
- The benefit-sharing plan is designed jointly with the rights holders before the project starts and runs for the project's life.
- When designing it, participants are shown projected revenues and expected costs.
- Every year after that, they get operating costs and gross or projected revenues.
- The plan names each benefit, cash or in kind, and when it is paid, and allows for change, such as lower revenue when credit prices fall.
- The project activity itself is not a benefit. Trees planted under the project, for example, do not count.
When it applies
Verra issued VCS Standard v5.0 on 16 December 2025. Its stakeholder and benefit-sharing sections are required for projects that start on or after 1 July 2027; version 4.7 stays active until then. For an earlier project, the contract is the only place the terms live.
How to judge an offer
- Ask for the revenue and cost lines behind the share, not just the percentage.
- Ask how the share moves if verification cuts the volume or the price drops.
- Ask who pays the verifier, the issuance levy and retirement fees.
- Value seed, kilns or training separately from cash.
- Get the payment dates in writing.
What Senseible does here
Senseible's field app records each farmer's consent with the date, method, agent and consent text version, and keeps field records under a pseudonymous id, so yearly reporting to farmers can point to their own batches.
Sources: Verra, VCS Standard, v5.0 (16 December 2025): Sections 3.6, 3.17 and 4.1, Verra, VCS Program Details: rules, versions and effective dates (v4 documents active until 1 July 2027)
Last reviewed 2026-11-02.