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PES Contract Clauses > Delivery

In any purchase agreement, the seller is obligated to deliver purchased goods or services to the buyer. A delivery clause is not needed in a contract for the provision of conservation or restoration services.

In a forest carbon project, because forest carbon sequestration occurs over long periods of time, delivery of carbon credits may occur over a 15-30 year period from the start of project activities. Example 1, below, illustrates one common delivery arrangement for a forward carbon purchase; that is regular deliveries of all or a portion of the VERs (carbon credits) generated by the project for the duration of the agreement. This approach recognizes fundamental uncertainties in the timing and amount of VERs that will be generated by a forest carbon project.

Delivery of VERs generally occurs over an electronic registry that tracks transfers of VER and helps to ensure that no double-counting of emission reductions occurs. Responsibility for opening and maintaining a registry account, and paying transfer or other fees, should be allocated in the agreement.

Delivery Examples

• Example 1 (private carbon emissions reduction purchase agreement)
• Example 2 (participation agreement for government REDD+ program)

These Clauses are:

• Not very customizable
• Not controversial

Disclaimer: Materials on this site are meant to highlight issues that should be considered in PES transactions, not to provide a substitute for experienced legal counsel. It will be essential to engage legal counsel in conjunction with any PES transaction to ensure that any agreements reflect the latest developments in the field and comply with current local and national legislation.

This website is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of the TransLinks Cooperative Agreement No.EPP-A-00-06-00014-00 to The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). TransLinks is a partnership of WCS, The Earth Institute, Enterprise Works/VITA, Forest Trends and The Land Tenure Center. The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.