Carbon Credit Registry Scraper — Verra VCS & Gold Standard Carbon Offset Projects

Pull structured carbon offset project data from two of the world's largest voluntary carbon market (VCM) registries in a single run. This Verra VCS and Gold Standard registry scraper builds a carbon credit project database covering Verra (VCS) (~5,000 projects) and Gold Standard (~4,000 projects) via each registry's public, unauthenticated API. No account, no proxy, no browser required.

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What You Get

One record per carbon project. Fields sourced directly from each registry's API:

Field	Description
project_id	Unique identifier within the registry
registry	Verra_VCS or GoldStandard
project_name	Full project name
project_type	Primary category (e.g. Agriculture Forestry and Other Land Use, Energy Efficiency)
methodology	Protocol or methodology code (e.g. VM0047, AMS-III.R, GS-TPDDTEC)
country	Country where the project is located
region	Geographic region
lat / lon	Project coordinates (subset of projects)
project_developer	Proponent or developer organization
validator	Validator organization
crediting_period_start	Crediting period start date
crediting_period_end	Crediting period end date
total_credits_issued	Total VCUs or VERs issued to date
status	Project status (Registered, Under Validation, Listed, etc.)
sdg_contributions	UN Sustainable Development Goals claimed by the project
project_url	Direct link to the project page in its registry

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How to Use

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
registry	select	all	all, verra, or goldstandard
maxItems	integer	100	Maximum projects to return across selected registries

Quick Start

Set registry to all and maxItems to 10 for a fast sample run. To pull the full dataset from both registries, set maxItems to 10000 (or higher — the actor will stop when results are exhausted).

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Sample Output

{
  "project_id": "1360",
  "registry": "Verra_VCS",
  "project_name": "Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project Phase II",
  "project_type": "Agriculture Forestry and Other Land Use",
  "methodology": "VM0009",
  "country": "Kenya",
  "region": "Africa",
  "lat": -3.8,
  "lon": 38.6,
  "project_developer": "Wildlife Works Carbon LLC",
  "validator": "Bureau Veritas Certification",
  "crediting_period_start": "2011-02-01",
  "crediting_period_end": "2041-01-31",
  "total_credits_issued": 3214807,
  "status": "Registered",
  "sdg_contributions": ["SDG 15 - Life on Land", "SDG 1 - No Poverty"],
  "project_url": "https://registry.verra.org/app/projectDetail/VCS/1360"
}

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Use Cases — Carbon Offset Project Research by Country and Methodology

• Carbon market research — analyze project type and methodology distributions across the voluntary market
• ESG due diligence — screen carbon offset suppliers by country, developer, and status
• Climate data aggregation — build datasets linking carbon projects to geographies and SDGs
• Lead generation — identify project developers and validators active in specific markets
• Portfolio analysis — track crediting periods and total credits issued for offsetting strategies
• Regulatory monitoring — watch project status changes across both major registries

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Coverage & Limitations

• Verra VCS: approximately 5,000 projects (forestry, methane capture, renewables, clean cooking)
• Gold Standard: approximately 4,000 projects (energy efficiency, clean cooking, biodiversity)
• Coordinates (lat/lon) are only available for a subset of projects — not all registries require geolocation
• total_credits_issued reflects the registry API value at time of scrape; issuance data lags real-time
• Retirement/transaction-level data (individual credit retirements) is not included in this actor; the registries expose that through separate endpoints

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FAQ

How do I scrape the Verra VCS registry without an API key? This actor uses Verra's public, unauthenticated project API. Set registry to verra and run — no API key, login, or proxy required.

Can I get Gold Standard carbon credit project data by country? Yes. The output includes a country field for every project across both registries, so you can filter or group the carbon offset project database by country after the run.

What is the difference between this and pulling individual credit retirements? This scraper returns one record per project (type, methodology, developer, status, credits issued). Retirement and transaction-level data live on separate registry endpoints and are not included here.

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Pricing

Pay-per-result. Each project record costs a small fraction of a cent. A full run of both registries (~9,000 records) costs under $1.

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Registry Sources

• Verra VCS: registry.verra.org
• Gold Standard: registry.goldstandard.org