# How can an Indian carbon project get money before credits are issued?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/pre-finance-for-carbon-projects-india

There are three routes. A prepurchase pays upfront for tonnes delivered later. A signed offtake pays on delivery, but lenders can fund construction against it. And faster issuance cuts the wait: Isometric issues per verified batch, and Puro.earth offers on-demand issuance to eligible suppliers. Each needs evidence a buyer can check.

## Prepurchase

The buyer pays before tonnes exist. Frontier's Innovation track does this for early teams with lab-scale data, an MRV plan and first tonnes due in one to two years. The buyer carries the delivery risk, so expect thorough diligence.

## Offtake as collateral

An offtake fixes volume and price for future delivery and pays only on delivery. Frontier built its template to be bankable: once conditions precedent are met, lenders can take a funding decision against the contracted revenue. Puro.earth also facilitates offtakes and prepayments for buyers who want future supply.

## Shorten the gap

- Isometric verifies and issues per production batch.
- Puro Issuance Plus offers on-demand output audits and issuance for eligible industrial suppliers.
- Verra lets you ask for part of a verified volume to be issued now and the rest later.

## Before you sign

- Check what happens if you deliver less than promised.
- Check the pathway: Frontier lists biochar as out of scope, while Puro, Isometric and Verra certify it.
- For equipment such as kilns or solar, also look at green loans from Indian lenders.

## What Senseible does here

Buyers and lenders fund what they can check. Senseible keeps the batch records, verifier evidence pack and forward contract and milestone tracking in one place, so a funder sees progress against each delivery.

- [Climate finance](https://senseible.earth/climate-finance)
- [Forward contract milestones](https://senseible.earth/answers/carbon-removal-forward-contract-milestones)
- [Green loans for MSMEs](https://senseible.earth/green-loans-msme-india)
- [Offtake agreements](https://senseible.earth/answers/carbon-credit-offtake-agreement)
- [Carbon removal projects](https://senseible.earth/carbon-removal/projects)

Sources: [Frontier, Apply: Innovation and Offtake tracks, purchase criteria and out-of-scope approaches](https://frontierclimate.com/apply), [Frontier, Publishing Frontier's offtake agreement template (15 August 2024)](https://frontierclimate.com/writing/offtake-agreement-template), [Puro.earth, Buy carbon credits: spot inventory, offtakes and prepayments](https://puro.earth/buy-carbon-credits/), [Puro.earth, Certification: certification journey from initial qualification to CORC issuance](https://puro.earth/cdr-infrastructure/carbon-credit-certification/), [Verra, Registration and Issuance Process, v5.0 (16 December 2025)](https://verra.org/documents/registration-and-issuance-process-v5-0/)

Last reviewed 2026-11-02.