A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent reduced or removed under the rules of its programme. Under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, these units are called Verified Carbon Units, or VCUs. Captive Carbon’s solar credits represent verified emissions reductions from qualifying electricity generation, rather than carbon removal.
Example: Verra issued 17,755 VCUs to the Nesa Solar PV Grouped Project, VCS 3659, on 30 September 2026. View the project record and read the first issuance announcement.
The short version: when a project does something that measurably reduces emissions: a solar installation generating power that would otherwise have come from a coal plant, or a methane capture facility at a landfill. That reduction can be quantified, audited, and turned into credits. Each credit is one tonne of CO₂-equivalent.
To count, those reductions have to be additional. That means they wouldn’t have happened anyway. A solar project that was going to be built regardless wouldn’t qualify; a solar project where carbon revenue tips the financial decision does. The standards that govern carbon credits exist to enforce this and other quality criteria through independent auditing.
Who buys carbon credits?
Three main groups:
- Corporates offsetting their emissions for voluntary net-zero targets or ESG reporting.
- Compliance buyers that need credits to meet legal carbon obligations. In South Africa, this includes carbon taxpayers, whose use of credits depends on the carbon offset regulations.
- Intermediaries and brokers holding credits as inventory or trading them in secondary markets.
What does this mean for you?
If you own a commercial or industrial solar installation in South Africa, every megawatt-hour you generate displaces grid electricity that would otherwise have come from the SA grid, which still has a high carbon intensity. That displacement creates verifiable emission reductions. Once registered and verified under a standard like Verra VCS, those reductions become credits you can sell.
We handle the registration, verification, and sale on your behalf. You earn a share of the revenue.