Local Communities as Key Partners for Success

When we say ‘community,’ who exactly do we mean? 

We define local communities based on the relationship of local groups to projects, and basically we’re referring to people who fall into one of two broad categories: local participants and affected residents.

The first group can include anyone who’s directly operating any carbon project activities, or granting their carbon rights to a project developer partner, either as individuals or part of a group. The second category encompasses residents who live in or around the project area, and are affected by it in some way.

In both cases, these are people at risk of being negatively impacted by a project, or not equitably benefiting from it. Yet they are integral to the project’s success. By unwaveringly applying our Community Benefits Principles, we acknowledge and respect the people on the front lines of climate action, and help drive deeper and more permanent impact.  

Our approach reflects not only our core company values but also our dedication to enhancing project permanence and minimizing risk. Strong benefit structures address the root social causes of deforestation and ecosystem degradation at the local level by providing livelihood and economic opportunities.

Catona Climate’s Approach to Community Benefits

Our Community Benefits Principles draw from best practices across the voluntary carbon market and beyond, and we work closely with our project developer partners to integrate these principles throughout our entire project portfolio.  

Carbon projects can bring positive impact to local communities in many ways, spanning three major categories that build upon one another. Think of it as a pyramid — or better yet, a growing tree. Here’s what the three tiers entail, and how we approach each one: 

• At its base is Community Engagement – which is more about how projects interact with communities than the benefits they provide. Registries and standard bodies establish certain safeguards and requirements for how projects engage with communities around free, prior, informed consent (FPIC); stakeholder consultations; and mechanisms for grievances. 

  
  Based on our research we concluded that our approach to community benefits would include a high standard for how project developers engage with communities, upholding best practices for project stakeholder engagement and governance. This includes establishing community governance and input mechanisms, helping ensure communities retain land access and ownership, and adopting fair leasing and sales terms. 
  

• Growing from effective engagement are tangible Program Benefits that flow to communities: access to services; improved infrastructure; educational, training, and job opportunities. 

  
  Per our principles, projects in our investment portfolio encourage employment and capacity-building opportunities for local communities as core program benefits. That means prioritizing local residents to meet labor needs; offering fair wages that support quality living standards; enshrining fair hiring practices that include protection from discrimination and harassment, and promote gender equity; and building knowledge and skills around sustainable land use and livelihood development.  
  

• Finally, near the crown we find equitable Revenue Share models — fair distribution of revenue gained from the sale of carbon credits or other revenue-generating project activities. Revenue sharing is not mandatory per most registries, but to us it’s more than just a best practice — it's a key component of permanence and high-quality project design.

  
  Our principles promote responsible revenue share models that engage communities as partners and reflect their role in project permanence. Designed with local governance and input, these models allow communities to benefit from the market potential of the VCM.

When to Apply Community Benefits Principles

There’s no “right time” to apply these principles, other than “all the time.” 

For starters, our Community Benefits Principles guide our decision-making long before a project ever makes it into our investment portfolio. In fact they play a big role in determining whether or not a given project makes the cut.  

From the get-go, we seek out projects that engage communities not as recipients or bystanders, but as integrated partners in achieving landscape-scale nature restoration and sustained climate impact. Vetting and evaluating community benefits is a key part of our due diligence process, and we look closely at project design hoping to see contextually appropriate strategies to engage and compensate local communities.  

If we see a project with great potential that misaligns with our Community Benefits Principles, we work with developers to improve project design and maximize positive community impact. We’re not satisfied until we reach a shared understanding that community benefits go hand in hand with project permanence, quality, and value in the marketplace.

Then, if we choose to include a project in our investment portfolio, we’ll collaborate with partners to uphold our principles throughout the project’s lifetime — part of our ongoing monitoring and engagement program. We measure and track both short and long term outcomes for communities and work with partners to integrate our impact priorities into their own monitoring plans. 

Our approach goes above and beyond existing norms within the VCM, drawn from best practices in monitoring and evaluation from international development and related impact-oriented sectors.

Making sure communities genuinely benefit from those projects is both morally imperative and, from a quality perspective, just plain smart. 

Including communities as partners and providing tangible benefits goes a long way toward achieving our desired result: long-term, impactful projects. It also greatly increases a project’s true value, building confidence among buyers and investors.

All told, robust and measurable community benefits drive positive returns of all kinds, for both people and planet.