Inside a Forest Restoration Project in Mexico
“Verifying Integrity Where It Matters Most: In the Field, With the People”
- Article
- 10/09/2025
As corporate demand for high-quality carbon credits grows, scrutiny of the projects behind them is intensifying. Buyers want more than numbers. They need proof that credits represent real, additional, and lasting climate benefits, and that projects deliver tangible value to local communities. Ratings agencies and project documentation can provide useful information and key insights, but sometimes the whole picture only emerges once you are in the field.
ENGIE’s recent visit to a 100-year forest restoration initiative in Campeche, Mexico shows how rigorous due diligence unfolds in practice.
The forest restoration project is designed to increase carbon stocks on 14.4 kha of community-owned forest, protect biodiversity, and provide a steady stream of revenues to the local community-based territories (ejidos), whose members collectively manage the land tenure.
From Screening to Field Visit
ENGIE’s project evaluation starts with desk-based research and eligibility screening, excluding certain project types and flagging developer controversies or reputational risks. These checkpoints are mandatory. No credits are purchased without passing through them.
The Mexico project – developed by an environmental company (“developer”) and implemented locally with the support of a local forester (“project manager”) — passed the initial screening. It is on track for registration under the Mexico Forest Protocol (MFP) of the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), a well-established carbon offset registry known for rigorous forest protection and carbon accounting standards.
But documentation alone isn’t enough. “Reports and ratings agencies are helpful tools for assessing the quality of carbon credits,” noted Sarah Ouziaux, an ESG officer and project reviewer at ENGIE. “But you can’t detect broken trust or community misgivings from your desk”.
Building Trust is as Critical as Carbon Accounting
Before heading to the field, ENGIE met the developer in Mexico City to align on expectations. During the three-and-a-half-day site visit, the team met with several ejidos—land-managing communities in Campeche. Responses varied: some communities were enthusiastic, others more cautious.
“One local resident said, ‘We’ll believe you when we see something happen,’” Sarah recalled. “We weren’t the first group of European buyers to visit,” she added. “Establishing trust is critical.”
The visit enabled ENGIE to assess whether project governance and engagement practices worked as well in reality as on paper. In a region marked by poverty and low literacy, the developer and project manager are working to build trust with local communities in tangible ways.
A key element of this effort is hiring staff directly from the ejidos. Local staff speak the community’s dialect, attend meetings, and explain the project clearly and repeatedly. Roles are paid fairly, in keeping with the developer’s BCorp–certified policies, which measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact.
Equally important, communities collectively decide how carbon revenues will be used, reinforcing a sense of agency in a project designed to last a century.
A Financial Model for the Long Haul
A 100-year permanence commitment can seem daunting, but many community members see it as aligned with the forest’s natural life cycle, as well as their wish to pass it on to future generations.
The financial model supports that vision. Under the MFP, 100-year projects are eligible for full credit issuance if they meet the protocol requirements, while shorter commitments (e.g., 30 years) receive only partial credit insurance proportional to the duration of their permanence commitment.
Revenues are structured to provide both short- and long-term benefits: diversified income, job creation, and a shared fund reserved for ongoing project maintenance. “It was important to know that the money the local people receive is really going to improve their livelihoods and their hopes for the future,” Sarah said.
Aligning with High-Integrity Standards
Beyond governance and community engagement, the project is designed to meet the highest carbon market benchmarks. The project is pursuing registration under the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), using a methodology approved under the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) following the framework set up by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), which upholds rigorous standards for additionality, permanence, and transparency.
It also supports several UN Sustainable Development Goals, including No Poverty, Gender Equality, and Decent Work and Economic Growth — offering corporate buyers confidence that their investments deliver both environmental and social value.
To supplement its assessment, ENGIE visited a mature project nearby, implemented by the same developer, to assess restoration outcomes and community impact. The team observed well-managed forests, CAR-compliant carbon accounting, and changes in agricultural practices supporting additionality claims. “We saw real change,” Sarah noted. “One field that had been undergoing slash & burn rotations until a few years ago is now under a pilot to switch to a productive forest generating new biomass.”
Why Being There Matters
Satellite monitoring can track forest cover and biomass, but it can’t capture the nuances of governance, benefit-sharing, or community trust. For that, being there on-the-ground remains essential to verify whether safeguards are real, whether people understand the trade-offs, and whether benefits are distributed fairly.
“We go to see if benefit-sharing is equitable and understood,” Sarah explained. “It’s about listening, observing, and asking hard questions.”
For corporate buyers, this kind of due diligence is more than a box-ticking exercise. It’s about risk management, reputational protection, and the assurance that every carbon credit purchased supports responsible, high-integrity climate action.
And while on-the-ground due diligence remains vital for ensuring integrity, not every buyer needs to take that step themselves. Trusted partners with deep local knowledge and rigorous verification processes can offer an efficient solution, enabling costs and insights to be consolidated across multiple clients. This mutualization not only reduces the burden on buyers with more limited needs but also helps ensure access to high-quality credits at a more competitive price point, without compromising on rigor or credibility.