Project Development and Consultancy

Project Development and Consultancy

CO2balance is known for its expertise in community based, high impact project development. In addition to developing our own projects, we provide consultancy services to NGOs and businesses that would like to certify their projects under a carbon standard and benefit from the additional revenue streams generated through carbon finance. CO2balance’s experienced projects team has developed over 200 projects under the 3 main carbon standards; The Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard and the Clean Development Mechanism.

CO2balance can manage the delivery of the full carbon project cycle, from feasibility studies through to the issuance of credits.  Alternatively we can assist and offer advice on specific elements relating to project development such as: baseline studies, project design, stakeholder engagement, monitoring, validation, verification and issuance.

For organisations that already have the expertise to develop carbon projects and are looking for a quick and cost-effective route to market, we also offer licensing arrangements for our PoA. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact enquiries@co2balance.com.

Project Licensing

CO2balance are experts in programmatic carbon finance development. As world leaders in Gold Standard micro programme of activities (mPoA), CO2balance have existing mPoAs in place globally that can generate carbon finance from domestic level energy efficiency, renewable energy and water treatment technologies. Through the mPoA CO2balance can offer an accelerated and more affordable route to carbon credit issuance for multiple micro-scale projects using eligible technology.

Microprogrammes Explained

In the past, certifying projects under a carbon standard has often been considered a long and costly undertaking. As a result, smaller projects expecting to offset less than 10,000 credits were considered unviable because the high implementation costs were not balanced out by a sufficient return from the carbon credits. This created a barrier to implementing projects in the poorest regions of the world, where emissions are typically much lower.  Recognising this fact, the Gold Standard introduced the microscale programme of activities framework, which significantly reduced the cost and time barriers for projects that offset 10,000 tonnes of CO2 per year or less.

The microscale programme works as a framework agreed in advance with Gold Standard, in which small projects meeting pre-defined criteria of the programme can be included within it. This vastly reduces the time taken to generate credits, the audit costs and the risk of making errors in the project development process.

About CO2balance microprogrammes

CO2balance registered the world’s first micro Programme of Activities (mPoA) designed to help scale up all Improved Cookstoves, Improved Water Supplies and Water Treatment Technology projects in any Least Developed Country (most of sub-saharan Africa). We also have a similar Programme for non-LDC countries (e.g. India, Brazil) using these same technologies and a dedicated Solar photovoltaic and Kerosene Lamp replacement Programme, so we are able to develop most domestic level renewable and efficient offset projects in all countries where they are needed. Our mPoAs are designed to help early stage potential offset projects using the above technologies to get off the ground, or even re-instigate projects that have previously failed due to a lack of sustainable finance (e.g. failure after donor pull out).

We can provide an accelerated route to carbon credit issuance and hence a sustainable funding mechanism for clients, as we assume responsibility for screening projects to ensure they meet our pre-defined eligibility criteria. This means that the risks, expense and time taken to pass though the usual carbon project cycle are greatly reduced for our partners.

Technologies covered in the co2balance mPOAs:

  • Improved biomass stoves (e.g. wood and charcoal)
  • Improved fossil fuel cook stoves (e.g. coal and LPG)
  • Solar cookers
  • Biodigesters
  • Water filtration devices (e.g. sand filters)
  • Safe water supply devices
  • Thermal insulation in cold climates
  • Kerosene replacement technologies (e.g. solar lighting)
  • Grid connected solar PV panels
  • Off grid solar PV panels