# Can carbon credits be tokenised on a blockchain under Verra and Gold Standard rules?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/can-carbon-credits-be-tokenised

Only on the registry's terms. Since May 2022 Verra has barred tokens made from retired credits, and Gold Standard's terms bar tokens from its credits without its written consent. A token is at most a claim on a credit held in a registry account, so check the registry rules and serial numbers before buying or selling one.

## What changed in 2022

Some platforms had retired credits on registries and minted tokens against them. A retired credit has already been used for a claim, so trading a token based on it risks selling the same reduction twice. In May 2022 Verra said it would no longer allow retired credits to be used to create tokens and began consulting on approaches based on immobilising active credits instead.

Gold Standard's terms of use already barred anyone from creating tokens or other digital instruments from its credits without express written consent. In 2022 it consulted on a consent process linked to its registry and began a readiness phase in 2023. Neither registry treats a token as the credit; read the current statement on each registry's website before acting.

## Questions to ask a token platform

1. Which registry holds the underlying credits, in whose account, and with what serial numbers?
2. Are the credits active and immobilised, or retired? Retired credits should not back a tradable token.
3. Does the registry recognise this arrangement in writing?
4. When the token is used for a claim, is the credit retired on the registry in the end user's name?
5. What happens to the token if the registry cancels or suspends the credits?

## What a token does not change

- Quality. The credit's methodology, additionality and permanence are the same with or without a token.
- Corresponding adjustments and host country authorisation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which come from governments, not from a blockchain.
- Integrity labels. ICVCM's Core Carbon Principles look at the programme and the credit type, including its registry; a token does not carry a label of its own.

## For Indian project developers

If a platform offers to buy your future credits as tokens, it is still a forward sale of registry credits. Write the contract around registry issuance and transfer, keep title until payment, and avoid any term that lets the buyer retire credits to make tokens.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible creates no tokens and no carbon credits and is not a registry. It shows carbon credit eligibility signals from your records, which a registered project developer and an accredited verifier would still have to take forward.

- [Blockchain carbon certificates](https://senseible.earth/answers/blockchain-carbon-certificate)
- [Carbon wallet or carbon tokens?](https://senseible.earth/answers/carbon-wallet-or-tokens)
- [How to check a credit's retirement](https://senseible.earth/answers/how-to-check-carbon-credit-retirement)
- [Vet a carbon credit platform](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/how-to-vet-a-legitimate-carbon-credit-platform)

Sources: [Verra, statement on third-party crypto instruments and tokens (May 2022) and later updates](https://verra.org), [Gold Standard, tokenisation consultation (2022) and consent requirement in its terms of use](https://www.goldstandard.org), [ICVCM, Core Carbon Principles and Assessment Framework](https://icvcm.org)

Last reviewed 2026-10-17. Registry positions on tokenisation have changed several times since 2022; confirm the current Verra and Gold Standard text before acting.