Does placing the equipment order set the Verra project start date?

Yes, it can. For energy and industry projects, Verra's VCS Standard v5.0 gives signing a contract to buy equipment, or beginning construction, as examples of the first significant action that sets the project start date. The crediting period starts later, at commercial or functional operation. Research pilots and required stakeholder work do not set it.

Two dates, two jobs

• Project start date: set by the earliest first significant action. Verra's examples for energy and industry projects are signing a contract to purchase equipment or begin construction, or signing a contract to purchase distributed units.
• Initial crediting period start date: for energy and industry projects the examples are beginning commercial or functional operation, or distributing the first units. It also starts the first monitoring period.
• The project start date must be no later than the initial crediting period start date.

What does not set the start date

• Pilot testing limited to research, such as feasibility studies or trials.
• Pilot activities that are not monitored as part of the project.
• Pilot activities that make no permanent change in land use.
• Stakeholder engagement that the standard requires before the start date: rights assessment, drafting the stakeholder plan, initial consultation, a grievance mechanism and the socioeconomic risk assessment.

Why the order date matters

Several steps must be finished before the project start date, not after. The standard asks for the stakeholder engagement work, the environmental, social and governance risk assessment and the right to operate to be in place by then. If an order is signed first, those dates are already behind you.

Example: furnace project dates (example dates)

• 10 February 2026: purchase order signed for the furnace. First significant action, so the project start date.
• 15 August 2026: furnace commissioned and running. Beginning of functional operation, so the initial crediting period start date. Gap: about six months.
• Listing is due within one year of 15 August 2026, and registration within two years for an energy project, so by 15 August 2028.

Example dates. The listing and registration deadlines count from the crediting period start, as in VCS Standard v5.0 Section 3.8.

What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps dated invoices and bills, so the order, the delivery and the first months of fuel and power use after switch-on each have a date on file. Setting the start date is for the project design and the verifier; credits come only from the registry.

• Carbon credits
• Listing and registration deadlines for energy projects
• Risk assessment before the start date
• Proof of the right to operate

Sources: Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), Sections 3.7 and 3.8

Last reviewed 2026-11-04. Section numbers are from VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025); re-check them when Verra publishes a new version.