Version:   v. 1.0, February 16, 2023

Contact: For questions, suggestions, comments, and troubleshooting please use the Carbon Markets CoP channel on Microsoft Teams or by email (CarbonMarketsCommunityofPractice@tnc.org)".

Purpose:  The purpose of this tool is to provide a general idea of carbon credits to be generated by REDD projects applying to the VCS program (Verified Carbon Standard). The accuracy of these projections is highly dependent on the input data.

Disclaimer:  The calculations of this tool are loosely based on VMoo15, but this tool doesn't include all steps necessary for a complete evaluation based on the methodology as will be necessary at the PDD level. For example, in projects including Soil Organic Carbon (SCO) and bellow ground biomass (BGB), it is necessary to calculate the carbon decay over the years, which is not included in this tool. Also, all REDD+ methodologies are currently being updated and a consolidated methodology for REDD+ are under development. Therefore, new guidance from Verra may arise in the future.

General Instructions:  There are two tabs available, in the first "Reduced-Deforestation" only the avoided CO2 emission from deforestation is accounted for. In the next tab, "Reduced-Deforestation_and_Fire" the same calculation applies but some extra parameters are set to calculate the avoided emission of CH4 from forest burning. This second should only be used for projects in areas where deforestation usually happens with the use of fire for clearing. The user may choose which tab to use, but in cases of doubt, should select the first, since it is more conservative.

In the following tabs, the user should fill out the fields in column "D - Applicable Value" colored in Orange. Other cells in column "D" will be auto-calculated based on the input values, as will happen in column "G" and beyond. When considering CH4 emission from forest burning, utilize the "Fire" box (Columns AA to AP) to calculate the EBB(Emissions Baseline and Benchmarking) total value, and seek guidance in VM0015. Specific guidance for the parameters are presented in the tabs.