What Route 5 is
R5 issues verified ex-post carbon removal tonnes from afforestation (planting trees on land that was not forested), reforestation (replanting deforested land), and assisted natural regeneration (helping a degraded ecosystem recover without dense planting). The output is a removal tonne credited in the voluntary carbon market.
R5 operates on the CCP-eligible methodology family for ARR: Verra VM0047 v1.1 is the primary basis, with equivalent methodologies (Gold Standard A/R, ACR Afforestation/Reforestation) also supported through their respective registry bridges. VM0047 received ICVCM CCP-label eligibility, which makes it the methodology corporate buyers screen for first when assessing integrity.
R5 is not a registry itself. EDMA does not replace Verra, Gold Standard, or ACR. R5 is the protocol-level lane on EDMA that builds the tonne with audit-grade evidence, either bridges it to a recognised voluntary registry, or settles directly with the buyer when the on-chain provenance is sufficient.
R5 is also not a place for legacy mono-culture exotic-species plantations in clean-grid markets with strong subsidies. The additionality gate at S01 routes those projects elsewhere. R5 is built for the slice of ARR that survives the audit: native-species projects, credible tenure and Free Prior Informed Consent where indigenous or local community land is involved, and the carbon revenue making the difference between a viable and a non-viable project.
The market reality R5 is built for
The voluntary ARR market has filtered hard since 2022. Ecosystem Marketplace tracking shows ARR issuance across the major registries fell from approximately 37.9 Mt in 2021 to approximately 9.2 Mt in 2022 and approximately 7.8 Mt in 2023, with 2024 tracking lower still as methodologies tightened and developers retooled. This is not a market collapse; it is a quality filter. Buyers shifted their procurement screens toward CCP labels, methodology version pinning, and audit-ready evidence chains. The supply that survives that filter clears at a premium.
Pricing reality across 2024-25 (directional, not guarantees): nature-based averages frequently sit at $7-24 per tonne; high-integrity ARR clears at the $20-60 per tonne band; native-species and non-China ARR continue to trade at a premium to legacy exotic-species programmes. Verra alone lists approximately 350-370 ARR projects across various status categories, with independent tallies across multiple standards placing total ARR project counts in the 300-500 range.
EDMA R5 is positioned for the upper integrity band. The design choices (additionality gate at S01, locked methodology version at S02, plot-plus-RS-plus-lab MRV at S03, mandatory retirement of overlapping instruments at S04, ex-post verifier sign-off at S05) all converge on producing the slice that buyers pay cleanly for.
How R5 works
After the additionality gate passes, R5 locks the accounting plan: the methodology version (typically Verra VM0047 v1.1 with the relevant module set, or equivalent), the baseline growth curve, the allometric equation set, the leakage budget, the uncertainty deductions, and the permanence buffer (typically in the 10-20% range, sized to species mix, region, and fire or pest risk). The locked plan is recorded on-chain; if upstream sources later restate parameters, the documented re-issuance SOP applies and settled batches are never repriced.
Measurement runs through the GRO evidence chain. Field plot measurements (diameter at breast height, height, sampled allometric biomass) combine with remote sensing (optical plus radar at registered cadence) and laboratory analyses where applicable. GRO tokens mint to the project wallet per plot or stratum or interval, each packet carrying coordinates, timestamps, instrument and lab identifiers, and QA artifacts. GRO is non-transferable evidence, not a credit; it is consumed at issuance and rendered permanently non-transferable.
If overlapping instruments exist (biodiversity offsets, ecosystem service payments, nested REDD+ credits for the same land), the protocol requires their retirement or immobilization in the source registry before R5 will queue any carbon. The external Issue and Retire IDs are anchored on-chain at S04.
At each ex-post issuance period (typically annual for ARR), the vintage batch dossier is assembled: GRO packets, accounting plan and version, EAC retirements, site photos, and any verifier-panel-required attestations. An independent accredited verifier from the panel reviews the dossier and signs on-chain. On a passing opinion, the CARBON_TONNE contract mints the vintage batch; the backing GRO is stamped consumed-to-carbon and permanently non-transferable.
Sale and settlement run on a forward (steady) or spot (opportunistic) model. The seller pays a 2% seller fee in $EDM at claim; the buyer's 2% settles separately (with an $EDM-discount option); 50% of all fees burn in $EDM until the 100 M circulating supply target.
The seven-stage diagram below shows the full path.
What qualifies (and what doesn't)
Typical passes: native-species or mixed-native afforestation and reforestation in tropical and subtropical zones where EDMA enrolment is the financing or methodology rigour that makes the project viable; assisted natural regeneration on degraded land with documented tenure and community involvement; project-scale plantings with credible safeguards (FPIC, fire management, pest monitoring) and verifiable allometric protocols.
Typical fails: legacy mono-culture exotic-species plantations in clean-grid markets with strong subsidies (would have happened anyway); projects with contested tenure or insufficient FPIC documentation; projects relying on optimistic baseline growth curves that the methodology no longer supports; projects with no leakage budget for indirect land-use change.
The gate is binary and the verdict is fast. Projects that fail are routed to Route 8 (soils or biochar), Route 3 (community pool participation), or energy Routes 1 or 2 so the developer still earns; failing R5 is not a dead end, it is a routing decision.
Permanence buffer and reversal
ARR removals are biologically reversible. A planted forest that burns releases its carbon back to the atmosphere; pest outbreaks can convert living biomass into decomposing biomass; illegal logging can liquidate stocks within months. The permanence-buffer mechanism is the protocol's response to this risk.
At S02, the locked accounting plan specifies the buffer percentage for the vintage batch, typically in the 10-20% range. That share of the gross issuable tonnes is held back in a pool-wide buffer rather than being sold; the saleable tonnes are the net after buffer.
Reversal monitoring runs across the crediting period. A documented reversal event (fire, pest, illegal logging, natural disaster) triggers a buffer claim: the affected vintage's share of the pool buffer compensates the buyer's retirement. For deliberate loss (clear-cut, unmanaged conversion), clawback provisions apply: the project's future issuances are debited against the lost tonnes.
The buffer percentage is not arbitrary. Tropical regions with high fire risk receive higher buffers than temperate plantings with established fire management. Native-species projects on stable tenure receive lower buffers than projects with rights uncertainty. The methodology specifies the heuristics; the AUDITOR signs the final number.
Stacking with other routes
R5 is compatible with the other carbon routes when they cover different areas or different units of benefit: R6 (REDD+ on different forest), R7 (blue carbon on coastal land), R8 (soils or biochar on separate land). R5 is also compatible with energy routes (R1 or R2 on separate energy assets) and with Route 3 (pool participation, which uses pool assets rather than the developer's own).
If overlapping instruments exist for the same R5 land (biodiversity offsets that claim the same hectares; nested REDD+ credits issued earlier), the protocol enforces the retirement of those instruments at S04 before any R5 tonnes can be issued from that land.
Energy-side carbon (R4) on the same project is allowed only if the R5 land and the R4 generation asset are separate, OR if the overlapping energy attributes are retired or immobilized first per the standard R4 rule.
Where it stands
R5 is built on the protocol-level architecture already shipped for the energy routes (PoV Gate, One-Claim Ledger, Attestor Registry, Ethereum L1 anchoring) plus the carbon-specific layers covered in the Carbon Flow overview. The R5-specific dependencies are:
Verifier panel. Independent accredited firms admitted to the Attestor Registry as VERIFIER-class entities. The panel is built jurisdiction by jurisdiction, with the recognised Verra, Gold Standard, and ACR verifier rosters as the natural candidates.
Methodology version tracking. Verra VM0047 v1.1 is the current primary basis; the protocol tracks methodology updates and applies the documented re-issuance SOP for material restatements.
Registry bridges. Bridge attestation contracts for Verra VCS, Gold Standard, ACR, and the regional ARR-relevant registries.
R5 readiness depends on verifier-panel onboarding in target geographies and on continued ICVCM CCP labelling of additional ARR methodologies as they emerge. For the protocol-level architecture R5 depends on, see Proof-of-Verification, One-Claim Ledger, Attestor Registry, and the sibling carbon route pages: R6 REDD+ / IFM, R7 Blue Carbon, and R8 Soils & Biochar.
