Carbon Credits Don’t Last Forever. And That’s the Point.

Eco Sustainability participated in Verra’s Version 5 consultation on the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). One of the big questions was how the market should treat “permanence,” now reframed as carbon durability.

For years, the assumption was permanence: a tonne of carbon stored in a forest would stay locked away forever. But forests burn, storms destroy, policies shift. Forever was never realistic. Durability is more honest. It recognises that carbon storage can last decades or centuries, but risk is always present.

Verra is testing two ideas: a pooled fund and insurance. We support the fund model. It keeps financial power closer to the project developers who manage the land, while still making sure there is money ready to cover reversals. But it only works if the rules are strict. Funds must be ringfenced, liquid, independently audited, and based on conservative return assumptions.

Insurance, while attractive on paper, is tricky. Payouts need to be fast. Coverage must be wide enough to matter. Exclusions should be minimal. And if insurers collapse, there needs to be a fallback. Without those safeguards, insurance adds risk rather than reduces it.

There may be a small market for innovation-labeled credits under these pilots. Mainstream demand, though, will likely wait until systems like CORSIA or ICVCM accept them. If the pilots prove solid, confidence will grow.

Changing the word from permanence to durability matters too. It shifts expectations. It sets a more realistic standard for what carbon storage can and cannot promise. But Verra must go further and explain how durability will be measured and applied. Without clarity, the new word risks confusion.

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