Project coordinators must work directly with representatives of all local stakeholders in the development of project interventions and in defining the project logic. This method of design is built into several areas of Plan Vivo and encourages the creation of project interventions that produce long-term benefits for project participants, thereby minimising the incentives for reversals of carbon benefits.

The project logic must also include risk mitigation measures for reversals, and risks to the maintenance of the carbon benefits for a period of at least 50-years must be identified and significant risks must be mitigated. These are identified through a risk assessment which is then reviewed by the Secretariat, Technical Review Panel (TRP), and Validation and Verification Body (VVB) or Independent Expert (IE) (depending on the review process taken). These risks must be reassessed every 10 years throughout the project period.

Finally, projects must contribute 20% of their carbon benefits to the risk buffer. This is a pool of vPVCs that are left unsold as insurance against the risk of reversal of carbon benefits. For more information on the scenarios in which the risk buffer can be accessed, please see the Procedures Manual on our PV Climate documentation page.

The Standard will adapt and evolve over time to continue to minimise risks to permanence.