What must a Verra baseline show about the service the project provides, and how is overestimating avoided?

The baseline must show the project and baseline provide the same type and level of product or service, and explain significant differences where appropriate. Assumptions, values and procedures shall be chosen to help ensure reductions are not overestimated, and relevant government policies and legal requirements shall be taken into account.

Four duties in section 3.12

1. Set the baseline as the applied methodology requires, and justify the choice (3.12.1).
2. Show equivalence in type and level of activity of the products or services of the project and the baseline scenario, and explain any significant differences where appropriate (3.12.2).
3. Choose assumptions, values and procedures that help ensure reductions and removals are not overestimated (3.12.3).
4. Take into account government policies and legal requirements relevant to the activity (3.12.4).

What the policy footnote names

Verra's footnote lists minimum product efficiency standards, air quality requirements, carbon taxes and subsidies as examples of such policies and legal requirements.

The conservative principle behind it

A footnote to the programme principles says applying the conservative principle equates to lower emissions and higher removals in the baseline scenario, and higher emissions and lower removals in the project scenario.

In a boiler example

If a new boiler also serves a larger shed, the steam it makes is not the same service as the old one. Our reading: one way to show equivalence is to compare per unit of steam or product, or remove the extra output. Records that tie fuel to output are what the verifier tests: fuel invoices, steam or production logs and meter data.

Example: why equivalence matters

• Old boiler: 1,000 tonnes of steam a month, 100 tonnes of coal. Baseline intensity = 100 / 1,000 = 0.10 tonnes of coal per tonne of steam.
• New boiler: 1,500 tonnes of steam a month, 120 tonnes of fuel (coal equivalent).
• Wrong comparison: 100 less 120 shows an increase of 20 tonnes. Equal service: the baseline for 1,500 tonnes of steam is 1,500 x 0.10 = 150 tonnes, so the saving is 150 less 120 = 30 tonnes of coal-equivalent a month.

Figures are an example. Convert tonnes of coal to emissions with a sourced factor for your fuel; this page does not give one.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records that you can keep with your project evidence. Its in-house check is not an accredited third-party verification, and Senseible is not part of Verra's process.

• Additionality in carbon credits
• Is a legally required project additional in India
• Regulatory surplus rule under Verra
• Carbon credits

Sources: Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Check the current VCS Standard, Registration and Issuance Process and Program Guide on Verra's site before you rely on this; Verra updates them periodically.