# What happens if the Verra verifier gives a negative opinion?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-negative-verification-opinion-what-happens

The verification body sends its report and your monitoring report to Verra with a negative opinion. Under VCS Standard v5.0 the project is then ineligible for registration until corrective action is taken and the same body gives a positive opinion. An adverse or modified opinion must give its reasons before its conclusion.

## What the standard requires

- Where the project does not meet the criteria, the verification body produces a negative opinion and gives Verra the report and the project description or monitoring report.
- The project is ineligible for registration until corrective action is taken and the same body has given a positive opinion.
- Adverse, disclaimed, modified or qualified opinions must describe the reasons, placed before the conclusion.

## Why 'the same body' matters

Only the same body can clear it: the body that said no has to be the one that says yes. A clear scope and early questions save a round.

## Not the same as a deviation

Where the project does not fully conform to the methodology, the body first decides whether that is a methodology deviation or a methodology revision, and handles it accordingly. A permitted deviation is not a negative opinion.

## Avoiding it

- Know the materiality test: errors, omissions and misstatements together must stay under 5% of reported reductions for a project of 300,000 tonnes (t) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) a year or less, and 1% above that.
- Close findings with evidence in the file, not with a promise.
- Keep every month's fuel and power records complete, not just the months the verifier visits.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps your fuel and power invoices as dated monthly records, so the months of evidence a verifier asks for are complete and each figure traces to its bill. It does not act as a verifier or give an opinion; Verra approves those bodies.

- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)
- [The 5% materiality test](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-verification-materiality-5-percent)
- [What deviations Verra allows](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-methodology-deviation-what-is-allowed)
- [Can the same verifier act every year](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-v5-vvb-rotation-rule)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), Sections 4.1.9, 4.1.15, 4.1.16 and 4.1.24](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/)

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.