Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) & the Balance Partnership

Convert what you already have: Already using Plan Vivo, Verra, Gold Standard, or other carbon credits? We help you convert these into Balance Units for immediate market access, fully interoperable with Article 6.

Develop new mitigation activities: Want to develop fresh NDC-aligned reforestation, biodiversity, and social economic efforts? We support countries in launching new nature-based solutions under our Balance legal framework.

Unlock NDC value: Balance Units are interoperable with carbon credits and fully aligned with Article 6, so there’s no need for extra drafting or complexity. The result is creating new revenue streams and socio-economic well-being for your country.

Our six-point legal framework ensures that projects match the science, delivering environmental and social impact that lasts.

1. Permanence: Most carbon credits promise only 40 years of legal protection, but the radiative forcing cycle of CO₂ lasts 100 years. That’s why Balance is legally designed to go the full 99-year distance.

Our split contract secures:

• 40 years of forest permanence tied to the carbon credit, followed by an additional 60 years of legal obligation dedicated to biodiversity and socio-economic benefits.

This ensures 100-year permanence, aligning our legal obligations with the radiative forcing cycle of CO₂ lifetime, actual climate science.

Balance contracts require that forests be allowed to initiate their full natural, biodiversity-enriching life cycle, including the generation of deadwood, which increases biodiversity and locks in more carbon through long-term decomposition and habitat creation.

This structure doesn’t just store carbon. It supports living ecosystems and livelihoods for generations, all backed by legally enforceable commitments that extend well beyond typical crediting cycles.

2. Biodiversity Creation : Balance contracts require planting indigenous species based on local genetic stock, historical land cover, and ecosystem resilience. We avoid planting in non-forest areas and ensure diverse, healthy forest systems to maintain ecological integrity.

3. Social Economics: Climate solutions must serve people, too. At least 40% of project development carbon finance flows to local communities (where they exist), alongside commitments to income-generating co-benefits, such as permaculture agroforestry, biochar, eco-tourism, beekeeping, sustainable firewood management, and water catchment enhancement for fisheries.

4. Climate & Monitoring: Projects are not “plant and forget.” Developers must regularly report on biodiversity gains, carbon benefits, and socio-economic outcomes with full transparency to clients and the public. Every forest can be visited, every impact verified.

5. Additionality: Balance supports truly additional projects, meaning they would not exist without our involvement. We align with existing carbon credits such as  Plan Vivo, Vera and Gold Standard to ensure every tree planted adds real, measurable value. However, we double down on additionality, making sure that every project is additional and would not happen unless the funding came through Balance.

6. Insurance: We plan for the unexpected. If a natural disaster, plant disease, or compulsory land acquisition occurs, our contracts require replanting, protecting long-term environmental and financial outcomes.

Statement outlining how Balance interprets and works to safeguard human rights in the context of its projects, including where local communities receive a share of project revenues alongside responsibilities for stewardship and monitoring.

Purpose

• To affirm Balance’s commitment to human rights in its climate and reforestation work.

• To clarify what “respecting rights” means in practice within Balance’s community involvement model.

• To serve as a reference point for due diligence, funders, government partners, and B Corp assessment.

• To make clear that financial participation does not substitute for, or dilute, community rights.

Our Commitment

Balance Eco Ltd is committed to respecting human rights across our work, and to continuously strengthening how we do so as our projects and partnerships grow. Our mission, delivering nature-based climate solutions that integrate biodiversity, social equity, and climate mitigation, depends on the genuine participation, agency, and well-being of the local and Indigenous communities we work with.

In projects where communities receive a share of project revenues (typically 40% of the total), this financial participation does not substitute for their rights. It is one part of a wider commitment to partnership and fairness. We view communities as co-creators of project outcomes, not simply implementers of project activities, and we work to respect their rights under applicable national law, relevant international human rights frameworks, and community protocols.

We are committed to working towards the following, and to being transparent about our progress in doing so:

• Fair and informed participation — involving communities in project planning, implementation, and decision-making in a way that is genuinely informed and meaningful, not a formality.

• Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) — seeking consent from affected communities, particularly Indigenous Peoples, before undertaking activities that affect their land, livelihoods, or culture, in line with recognised international standards.

• Fair and equitable compensation — for the work, stewardship, and responsibilities communities take on as part of a project.

• Safe and dignified conditions — free from coercion or discrimination, for anyone engaged in project activities.

• Access to redress — including a grievance mechanism that affected communities can genuinely reach and use, should harm arise from a project.

We recognise that our model asks communities to take on responsibilities, including monitoring, reporting, and land stewardship, alongside the benefits they receive. We are committed to ensuring these responsibilities do not become undue burdens, and that community engagement throughout a project’s life remains grounded in mutual respect, transparency, and shared benefit.

This statement reflects our current commitments. We review and strengthen it as our methodology, contracts, and partnerships evolve, and we welcome scrutiny of how well we live up to it.