Risks are mitigated through non-harvest management, resilient mixed-deciduous forest structures, legal/PEFC safeguards, and continuous monitoring, while permanence beyond the project period is ensured by the ecological stability and high value of the old-growth forest that develops during the 40-year protection phase.
Roughly 8,000–12,000 people benefit from the project through improved recreation, landscape quality, ecosystem services, and professional forestry-related employment.
The project is fully additional for the entire 772 ha, because 100% of the credited area is managed under a protection regime fundamentally different from the baseline. All verified carbon benefits stem directly from this altered management practice.
The project delivers social benefits by preserving public forest access, avoiding any restriction of local rights, creating stable landscapes with low disturbance, supporting local forestry employment, and adhering to strong German and PEFC social safeguards.
The project enhances biodiversity by protecting mature deciduous forests from harvesting, preserving deadwood and habitat trees, safeguarding FFH forest types, and maintaining natural hydrology and soil integrity—allowing old-growth structures and species richness to develop without intensive interventions.
Stakeholder needs are continuously integrated into project planning, implementation, and verification by following German legal frameworks, PEFC standards, and Verra's safeguard requirements, ensuring transparent communication and preventing any negative social or community impacts.
Double counting is prevented through unique serial-numbered VCUs in the Verra Registry, exclusive carbon rights for all project lands, and independent third-party verification. The project is not registered as an Article 6 activity under the Paris Agreement and operates purely in the voluntary carbon market.
Safeguards are ensured through international standards (VCS), national regulation, PEFC certification, long-term protection commitments, independent audits, and continuous ecological monitoring — guaranteeing that the project delivers climate benefits without causing harm.
IFM
The average sequestration rate is approximately 9 tCO₂e per hectare per year over the full 40-year crediting period. Verified values to date range from about 4 tCO₂e/ha/year (2018–2021) to around 8 tCO₂e/ha/year (2022–2024).
To date, all credits issued by the project have been sold ex post on the spot market. We have deliberately refrained from pre-selling or signing offtake agreements in order to maintain full operational flexibility and ensure that only verified, audited credits enter the market.
The project's theory of change is based on replacing regular timber harvesting—identified as the main degradation driver—with a long-term, verified protection regime. By fully suspending commercial harvesting for 40 years under the Logged to Protected IFM approach, the project prevents biomass removal, allows continuous carbon accumulation, improves forest resilience, and safeguards biodiversity.
The entire project area is privately owned by the project proponents, who hold full legal title to 100% of the land included in the project. Land ownership is clearly documented and undisputed. The landowners retain full long-term control over land use, forest management decisions, and all project activities. There are no leases, concessions, easements, or competing land claims, and no third-party usage rights that would affect project implementation.
The project generates carbon sequestration by fully suspending commercial harvesting on 772 ha of high stock mixed deciduous forest for 40 years under the Verified Carbon Standard (VM0012, Logged to Protected IFM). By halting all planned thinnings and final fellings, the forest continuously accumulates living biomass while retaining deadwood and habitat structures.
Refora is the only active, fully audited, credit-generating land use IFM project in Europe that is registered under the eligible programs referenced in the guidelines.
The project covers a minimum of 3,072 hectares over its current verified lifetime. This includes 772 hectares already under improved forest management and an additional 2,300 hectares that will be formally incorporated through the 2025 verification cycle. Beyond this minimum, the project is designed for continued expansion over subsequent verification cycles, with additional land areas currently under assessment for integration.
The project is fully financed through private equity provided directly by the landowners, who also own 100% of the project area. No external financing partners, investors, or public funding are involved. All project development, implementation, verification preparation, and expansion activities have been paid entirely by the owners. This fully owner-financed structure ensures long-term financial stability, independence, and continuity across all implementation and verification cycles.
2018
Issued
The current verified project area is expected to generate approximately 280,000 tCO₂e over the full crediting period. In addition, a further 2,300 ha of project area are already part of the project and will be formally included through the verification cycle in 2025. Once the full 3,072 ha are included in the verified project area, the project is expected to generate approximately 48,000 tCO₂e per issuance cycle (based on a three year verification interval), reflecting the significantly larger long term carbon removal potential.
3363
Germany
Submitted for CCP approval - outcome pending
Verra
VM0012