Verra closes safeguards review of Kariba REDD+ project
Verra has released the findings of the second and final component of its quality control review of the Kariba REDD+ project in Zimbabwe, one of the most scrutinised projects in the history of the voluntary carbon market. This is an update to a long-running case: Verra’s earlier carbon accounting review, concluded in 2025, found the project had been issued roughly 15 million excess credits; what is new is the completion of the separate safeguards-focused component.
Verra said the safeguards review was conducted after the earlier carbon accounting review, with the project’s validation and verification bodies (VVBs) asked to reassess whether the project met Verra’s safeguards rules at the time of their original assessments, in light of serious allegations raised through media reporting. Revisiting their original audit work, including site visit reports, community interviews and financial records, the VVBs could not identify evidence of a breach of Verra’s rules in the three areas examined for that period: trophy hunting, benefit sharing and financial compliance.
The standards body stressed the limits of the exercise, noting the review addressed compliance during the historical assessment periods rather than providing a comprehensive verdict on all allegations. Verra described the Kariba case as one of the most complex it has ever reviewed, involving serious allegations, an inactivated first-generation methodology, and a proponent that withdrew the project from the registry while reviews were still ongoing.
The safeguards findings follow far more damaging conclusions on the carbon accounting side. Verra’s earlier review found that actual deforestation in the project’s reference area was significantly lower than initially estimated, resulting in 15,220,520 excess credits out of 26,822,953 issued, credits that can no longer be compensated for through subsequent monitoring given the project’s withdrawal from the registry. Verra also cancelled the project’s entire buffer pool contribution of 5,049,473 units and is seeking compensation for the excess credits.
Verra positioned the conclusion of the review as part of a broader tightening of its programme. The organisation said the latest version of the Verified Carbon Standard, released in December 2025, represents the most comprehensive update in the standard’s history, embedding stronger social and environmental safeguards, stricter benefit-sharing requirements and enhanced financial transparency obligations, and that a project of Kariba’s type seeking registration today would face a materially higher bar.
The Kariba project, which at one point supplied credits to major corporate buyers, became a flashpoint for integrity concerns across the REDD+ segment after investigative reporting in 2023 triggered Verra’s suspension of the project. The closure of the review removes a long-standing overhang for the market, even as questions over compensation for the over-issuance remain unresolved.
