Skip to main content
CarbonBlaze
All learning lessons

13Follow the unit

The carbon-credit lifecycle

How project design, methodology, review, issuance, tracking, transfer, retirement, and public records fit together without any one step becoming a complete quality verdict.

Last reviewed

01CarbonBlaze explainer

A lifecycle starts before a credit exists.

A credited activity is generally designed against a methodology that sets rules for boundaries, baselines, monitoring, and quantification. Documentation and relevant review processes precede issuance.

02CarbonBlaze explainer

Records create an identifiable trail.

Programs and registries may record units, serial ranges, transfers, and status changes. Traceability can help readers locate information but does not replace examining assumptions, risks, safeguards, and context.

03CarbonBlaze explainer

Retirement is a recorded status.

When units are retired, the relevant system records they are no longer available for another stated use. Readers can then ask what was retired, under what rules, for whom, and what a later claim actually says.

Carbon-credit lifecycle diagram: project idea, methodology and baseline, monitoring and documentation, review, issued registry unit, transfer, retirement record, and specific public statement. A note states each stage answers a different question.
A lifecycle clarifies the evidence trail; no single stage decides the quality of a credit or the accuracy of a later claim.

Common questions

Does issuance remove all uncertainty?

No. Issuance reflects a process under particular rules; method, monitoring, safeguards, and remaining risks still matter.

Why do identifiers matter?

A serial range or other identifier can connect a unit to a record and clarify what has been issued or retired.