# Does the Verra verifier have to visit our plant at every verification?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-verifier-site-visit-when-required

No. Under Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) v5.0 the verifier must visit at validation, at crediting period renewal and at the first verification. A visit is also required when a verification reassesses the baseline or assesses a deviation that changes the project's basis. Otherwise the verifier decides by risk and writes down why.

## Visits the standard requires

- Validation: a visit to the facilities or project areas, always.
- Crediting period renewal: the same, always.
- The first verification after validation.
- A verification that includes a baseline reassessment.
- A verification that assesses a project description deviation, when the deviation affects whether the methodology applies, whether the project is additional, or whether the baseline is still right.

## Every other verification

The validation and verification body (VVB) decides whether to come, using an independent risk assessment of how likely a material misstatement or a nonconformity with the audit criteria is. If it decides not to visit, it must explain and document why. So a year with no visit is allowed, and the VVB has to be able to show its reasoning.

A new VVB makes this call afresh. A plant that was never visited under one VVB should not assume the next one agrees.

## If the visit falls before the end of the monitoring period

Say the visit is in September and the period runs to December. The VVB must still verify the reductions made between the visit and the end of the period, and describe the extra evidence it gathered for that stretch. For a factory that means the last months of fuel bills, power bills and production records need to be as complete as the months it saw on site.

## Getting ready

- Ask the VVB at the start whether this verification falls in the required list.
- Keep the equipment, meters and logbooks in the monitoring plan reachable on the day.
- Have the full monitoring period's records ready, not only the months before the visit.

## Example: a visit before the period ends (example figures)

- Monitoring period: 1 January to 31 December. Claimed reductions: 9,600 t CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), about 800 t a month
- VVB visits on 30 September: October to December is 3 months, 3 x 800 = 2,400 t CO2e
- That is 2,400 / 9,600 = 25% of the claim, verified from documents rather than from what the VVB saw on site
- Needed for those 3 months: fuel and power bills, run-hour logs, meter readings and any stoppage notes

Example figures to show the sum. Reductions are rarely even across months; use your own monthly figures.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps your dated monthly fuel and power invoices in one place, so the records a VVB asks for after a visit, or in place of one, are easy to hand over. It does not register projects or issue credits; Verra and your VVB do.

- [Can the same VVB verify every year?](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-v5-vvb-rotation-rule)
- [What goes in a verifier pack](https://senseible.earth/answers/what-is-a-verifier-evidence-pack)
- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), sections 4.1.10 to 4.1.13](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.