# Does a factory efficiency project need an environmental and social risk assessment for Verra?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-esg-risk-assessment-before-start-date

Yes. Before the project start date, Verra requires a documented environmental, social and governance risk assessment, with mitigation measures sized to each risk. You then carry those measures out, keep monitoring the risks, and update the assessment at every verification.

## What it must do

- Assess the risk of negative environmental, social and governance impacts, given the project's scope and scale, with particular attention to women, children, marginalised and vulnerable people where they were identified in stakeholder engagement.
- Design mitigation measures that match each risk level and cover the safeguards in the Standard, plus any other risk you find.
- Use Verra's risk assessment template.

## After the start date

- Carry out the mitigation measures.
- Keep monitoring the risks and whether the measures work.
- Fix or remedy any negative impact that shows up.
- Adjust the design when local conditions or rules change.

## At each verification

You update the assessment to report changes to the risks, including new ones, and how the measures were carried out, including any actual negative impacts.

## How big it needs to be

The assessment is sized to the risk. The Standard's safeguards cover areas such as forced and child labour, contracted workers, worker training and corruption. A small efficiency retrofit can have a short list, but the document must exist before the start date.

## Example: three lines from a furnace retrofit register

- Risk: injury during hot work by contractors. Measure: permit to work and training. Monitor: incident log each month
- Risk: old refractory and scrap dumped locally. Measure: sale to an authorised recycler. Monitor: disposal receipts
- Risk: contractor workers unpaid or underage. Measure: ID and wage check before entry. Monitor: attendance and payment records

An example of the format only. Your own risks decide the list.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible does not run risk assessments. It keeps the dated records your project produces, so the monitoring side of the assessment has documents behind it. It does not register projects or issue credits; Verra and your validation and verification body do.

- [Stakeholder steps before the start date](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-stakeholder-engagement-and-grievance-before-start-date)
- [What a VVB is and how to choose one](https://senseible.earth/answers/what-is-a-vvb-and-how-to-choose-one)
- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), section 3.18, requirements 3.18.1 to 3.18.3](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/)

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