What is VM0047?
VM0047 is Verra's methodology for Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation projects under the Verified Carbon Standard. It sets out how an ARR project establishes its baseline, quantifies carbon removals, and monitors outcomes over the crediting period. Its most significant departure from earlier ARR methodologies is the use of a dynamic performance benchmark rather than a baseline that the project defines once at the outset and holds fixed.
For project developers the practical consequence is a shift in where the evidence burden falls: less argument about a projected counterfactual, more dependence on measured, comparable observation over time.
What is a dynamic performance benchmark?
A dynamic performance benchmark measures the project against comparable land that is not part of the project, observed over the same period, rather than against a scenario projected at the start. The comparison area stands in for what would have happened without the project. Because both are observed rather than modelled forward, the baseline updates as conditions change — including conditions nobody could have forecast when the project was designed.
- The counterfactual is observed, not projected, which removes a large category of audit dispute.
- The baseline moves with regional conditions such as weather cycles or wider land-use change.
- Crediting reflects performance relative to comparable land, not relative to an assumption.
- The project must sustain the comparison across the crediting period, not just establish it once.
How does VM0047 change what evidence a project needs?
VM0047 increases the weight on consistent, comparable, spatially explicit measurement over time. A static baseline concentrates the analytical work at the design stage; a dynamic benchmark spreads it across the whole crediting period, because the comparison has to be maintained and defended at every verification. That favours projects whose monitoring produces a continuous, structured record rather than a series of independently assembled reports.
| Aspect | Static baseline | Dynamic benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Counterfactual | Projected at design | Observed on comparable land |
| Main analytical effort | Front-loaded at PDD stage | Sustained across crediting period |
| Sensitivity to conditions | Fixed once set | Updates with observed change |
| Key evidence type | Design assumptions and modelling | Consistent, comparable measurement |
| Audit exposure | Baseline assumptions challenged | Comparability and data continuity challenged |
This is precisely the shape of problem digital MRV addresses: keeping a structured, spatially explicit record that stays comparable to itself over years.
What role does remote sensing play in VM0047?
Remote sensing supports the comparison at the heart of the methodology, because measuring a project area and a comparable area on the same basis over the same period is exactly what satellite observation does well. Ground measurement remains necessary — satellite data cannot establish species, planting date, participant identity, or survival at tree level. The two are complementary: satellite observation provides comparable coverage over time, and ground data provides the identity and detail an auditor asks for.
FloraScope covers the satellite side and FloraTrace the ground side, which is why we treat them as one evidence base rather than two tools.
Which projects can use VM0047?
VM0047 applies to afforestation, reforestation and revegetation activities — establishing tree cover on land that qualifies under the methodology's eligibility conditions. It does not cover avoided deforestation, which falls under REDD+ methodologies, or improved management of existing forest, which falls under IFM. Eligibility turns on prior land use and historical cover over a defined lookback period, tested against historical imagery rather than a site visit.
Where a project sits across these categories is a question worth settling early — see the carbon project development pipeline for where methodology selection falls relative to land acquisition.