After measuring the baseline before the project starts, regular monitoring must take place in the future. These show the changes that have occurred since the start of the project, such as in forest inventory. Based on this data, the actual CO2 storage or CO2 savings achieved since the project began can be calculated. It's important for these projects to result in positive impacts that would not have occurred without the project. For Improved Forest Management projects, for example, this means that trees would have been harvested for timber production without the climate protection project and would not have sequestered additional CO2.

Measurements have become simpler in recent times thanks to new technologies, which allow for more regular and precise data collection and easier surveying of large areas. Additionally, depending on the type of project, it can be beneficial to involve local people who can record changes and carry out regular spot checks.

A forest worker uses the Dynamic Forest software to document all forest activities. (photograph: OCELL)

Therefore, OCELL works closely with forestry operations whose staff record their daily activities—such as assessing tree damage or new plantings—using software.

Subsequently, the collected results are presented to an accredited third party for review and confirmation.

Reporting

A report is generated from the gathered data and submitted to independent third parties for review and certification. The report includes not only the amount of CO2 saved or stored but also detailed data used to calculate the CO2 amount.

For OCELL's climate protection projects, buyers of CO2 credits also gain access to detailed project data to understand the impact of their investment.

Verification

Third-party verification of data is a crucial step to ensure the integrity and credibility of climate protection projects. This process is conducted by external auditors or certification bodies accredited according to the standards of the respective climate protection initiative. OCELL works with the ISO standard, TÜV Nord as certification body, and Waldklimastandard as carbon standard. Other well-known standards include the Gold Standard and Verra. The goal is to confirm the accuracy and completeness of the reported emission data. Auditors often have to sift through very comprehensive datasets. Well-documented results that clearly demonstrate accuracy, transparency, and compliance with the standard significantly facilitate this process.

Special attention is given to the aspects of additionality, permanence, and leakage. These factors are crucial to ensure that claims about removing or reducing CO2 are scientifically sound and robust. Following a successful review, CO2 certificates are certified, with each certificate being assigned a unique number. This number is used to track and transfer the certificates, including recording their use and retirement.

The verification process is detailed and strict. Project developers must provide all data to demonstrate how their projects reduce and remove emissions. They must also undergo random checks to uncover errors and inconsistencies, which are then corrected. As a result, issuing CO2 certificates for a climate protection project can take a considerable amount of time. However, this is important as verification helps limit manipulations and dubious practices, fostering integrity and trust.

Advantage through technology

Technological progress is a real game-changer, including for CO2 certificates. While traditional, mostly manual methods of measuring, reporting, and verifying projects are very time-consuming and often prone to errors, digital technologies offer an efficient alternative. Automated data collection and processing, along with improved quality control, allow more climate protection projects and thus CO2 certificates to be set up in a short time without compromising quality.

For this reason, OCELL employs innovative approaches to collect and provide high-quality impact data. OCELL relies on remote sensing, Lidar, aerial photography, and operational data from the Forest Dynamic software, where project partners record all activities in the forest. Using all these data, a digital twin of the forest is created with the help of artificial intelligence to accurately measure the CO2 storage in forests. This technology also plays a key role in monitoring. With this approach, we ensure that we deliver precise and reliable data essential for the effective implementation and evaluation of climate protection projects.

Overall, these developments show how CO2 credits can increase transparency and reliability through the use of technology.

Checklist for buyers of carbon credits

In recent years, the ability to reliably measure projects and their impact, thus ensuring their quality, has continuously improved. But how can you as a buyer be sure that the projects have a robust MRV system?

✅ Insist on transparent data: You should receive regular reports showing the current status of your project. Reliable project developers have up-to-date data and are not hesitant to provide it to you, preferably unsolicited.

✅ Proximity to the project: How close is the developer to the project, and do they work closely with local experts, such as forest owners? Are these local projects? Do you, as a buyer, have the opportunity to visit the project and verify its current status?

✅ Use of technology: Ask for detailed explanations on how data is collected, calculated, and monitored. Projects based on innovative technology can be advantageous because they can also process large volumes of data accurately. However, this does not mean that manually set up projects are automatically inferior. The difference lies in the quantity. Those who manually set up only a few projects can also do so with high quality.

✅ Consider the price: Buying as many CO2 certificates as possible for little money sounds like a good deal at first. However, the quality of the projects and thus the real impact created can suffer. Therefore, as often is the case with CO2 credits: less is more. If you have a specific budget, it's better to buy fewer certificates at a higher price. Good MRV costs money: development costs, continuous monitoring, and third-party verification. All these increase the security of the promised CO2 savings significantly. A higher price can thus also mean a lower risk.

Additional crucial quality criteria for climate protection projects include additionality, permanence, and leakage. Let your project contact explain these to you in detail.

MRV is indispensable

In conclusion, the MRV process plays a key role in the world of CO2 certificates and climate protection. The market needs more reliability, transparency, and effectiveness to develop carbon credits with real impact. This also promotes credibility and thus trust among buyers and all other participants in the carbon market. And only when companies can be sure that their financial aid contributes to reducing or removing CO2 will they make corresponding investments. Investments that are urgently needed to achieve the 1.5-degree target.