# Carbon Credit Registry Monitor (`stevennguyen/carbon-registry-monitor`) Actor

Monitor Gold Standard and Verra VCS carbon credit projects, issuances, and retirements with normalized output and change detection.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/stevennguyen/carbon-registry-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Steven Nguyen](https://apify.com/stevennguyen) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.01 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Carbon Credit Registry Monitor

Track public carbon-credit registry activity across **Gold Standard** and **Verra VCS**. This Actor returns normalized, change-tagged records for projects, credit issuances, and credit retirements so carbon-market teams can build watchlists, due-diligence feeds, and market-intelligence alerts without stitching registry data together manually.

### What this Actor is useful for

- Monitor new or updated carbon projects in Gold Standard and Verra VCS.
- Track recent credit issuances by project theme, country, methodology, or keyword.
- Track retirements/cancellations and public retirement metadata where available.
- Build repeatable watchlists for themes like `cookstove`, `biochar`, `mangrove`, `REDD`, `renewable`, or specific project names.
- Feed carbon-market intelligence pipelines, ESG research workflows, broker watchlists, and Slack/webhook alerts.

### Supported sources

| Registry | Projects | Issuances | Retirements | Notes |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---|
| Gold Standard | yes | yes | yes | Credit-block endpoint supports broad or keyword queries. |
| Verra VCS | yes | yes | yes | Credit-event queries require `searchTerms` to avoid slow unfiltered asset searches. |

### Quick start examples

#### 1. Monitor credit events for a theme

Best first run if you want market activity, not just project metadata.

```json
{
  "registries": ["gold_standard", "verra_vcs"],
  "recordTypes": ["issuances", "retirements"],
  "maxItemsPerRegistry": 50,
  "searchTerms": "cookstove",
  "onlyChanges": true,
  "compareWithPreviousRun": true,
  "stateKey": "cookstove-credit-events"
}
````

#### 2. Monitor new/updated projects

```json
{
  "registries": ["gold_standard", "verra_vcs"],
  "recordTypes": ["projects"],
  "maxItemsPerRegistry": 100,
  "countries": "India, Brazil, Kenya",
  "projectTypes": "reforestation, renewable, biochar",
  "onlyChanges": true,
  "compareWithPreviousRun": true,
  "stateKey": "project-watchlist-india-brazil-kenya"
}
```

#### 3. Gold Standard retirement feed

Gold Standard retirement queries can run without `searchTerms`.

```json
{
  "registries": ["gold_standard"],
  "recordTypes": ["retirements"],
  "maxItemsPerRegistry": 100,
  "onlyChanges": true,
  "compareWithPreviousRun": true,
  "stateKey": "gold-standard-retirements"
}
```

### Input fields

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `registries` | `gold_standard`, `verra_vcs`, or both. |
| `recordTypes` | `projects`, `issuances`, `retirements`, or a combination. |
| `maxItemsPerRegistry` | Maximum matching records per registry and record type. |
| `countries` | Optional comma-separated country names. |
| `statuses` | Optional comma-separated status names, e.g. `ISSUED`, `RETIRED`, `LISTED`. |
| `projectTypes` | Optional comma-separated terms matched against project type / methodology. |
| `searchTerms` | Optional comma-separated terms matched against project names, IDs, serials, retirement metadata, and descriptions. Required for Verra issuance/retirement queries. |
| `onlyChanges` | Skip unchanged records. Recommended for scheduled monitors. |
| `emitUnchanged` | Emit unchanged records too. Useful for first-run exports and debugging. |
| `compareWithPreviousRun` | Persist fingerprints in the key-value store and mark each record as `new`, `updated`, `unchanged`, or `missing_from_current_run`. |
| `stateKey` | Key-value store key for persisted state. Use a different key for each watchlist/filter set. |

### Output

Dataset items include normalized fields where available:

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `registry` | Registry name. |
| `source` | Source feed, e.g. `goldstandard_issuances`, `verra_vcs_retirements`. |
| `record_type` | `project`, `issuance`, or `retirement`. |
| `record_id` | Stable Actor-level ID used for change detection. |
| `change_type` | `new`, `updated`, `unchanged`, or `missing_from_current_run`. |
| `project_id`, `project_name` | Registry project identifiers. |
| `status`, `country`, `project_type`, `methodology` | Normalized project/credit metadata. |
| `quantity` | Number of credits in an issuance/retirement record. |
| `serial_number` | Registry credit serial number or range. |
| `vintage`, `vintage_start`, `vintage_end` | Vintage/monitoring period details. |
| `issuance_date`, `retirement_date` | Event dates where available. |
| `retirement_beneficiary`, `retirement_reason`, `retirement_details` | Public retirement metadata where available. |
| `source_url` | Registry project/source URL. |
| `raw` | Original registry response object for audit/debugging. |

The run summary is written to the default key-value store under `OUTPUT` and includes fetched/emitted counts, counts by source, counts by record type, filters used, and generation time.

### Change detection behavior

This Actor stores fingerprints in the default key-value store under `stateKey`. On later runs:

- New records are emitted as `new`.
- Changed records are emitted as `updated`.
- Disappearing records are emitted as `missing_from_current_run`.
- Unchanged records are skipped when `onlyChanges` is `true`.

For scheduled monitors, use a stable `stateKey` per watchlist. If you change filters but keep the same `stateKey`, the Actor may mark previously seen records as missing.

### Source caveats

- Registry schemas and frontend APIs can change.
- Verra VCS credit-event queries are scoped by `searchTerms` because the unfiltered public asset search is too slow/unreliable for production runs.
- Gold Standard `retirement_date` is derived from public credit-block timestamps where a dedicated retirement date is not exposed.
- This Actor is for monitoring and research. Validate source URLs before using results for financial, legal, or compliance decisions.

# Actor input Schema

## `registries` (type: `array`):

Which public registries to query.

## `recordTypes` (type: `array`):

Which records to monitor. Projects are registry project records. Issuances and retirements are credit blocks / VCU asset records where available.

## `maxItemsPerRegistry` (type: `integer`):

Maximum matching records to output per registry and record type.

## `countries` (type: `string`):

Optional comma-separated country names, e.g. India, Brazil, Kenya.

## `statuses` (type: `string`):

Optional comma-separated statuses, e.g. ISSUED, RETIRED, LISTED, Under validation.

## `projectTypes` (type: `string`):

Optional comma-separated terms matched against project type and methodology.

## `searchTerms` (type: `string`):

Optional comma-separated terms matched against project names, IDs, proponents/developers, serials, retirement fields, countries, descriptions, and methodologies. Required for Verra issuance/retirement event queries to avoid a slow unfiltered registry query.

## `onlyChanges` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, skip unchanged records. New, updated, and missing records are still emitted.

## `emitUnchanged` (type: `boolean`):

Emit unchanged records too. Useful for first-run exports and debugging.

## `compareWithPreviousRun` (type: `boolean`):

Store fingerprints in the default key-value store and mark records as new, updated, unchanged, or missing\_from\_current\_run.

## `stateKey` (type: `string`):

Key-value store key used to persist run state. Change this to keep separate monitors for separate filters.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "registries": [
    "gold_standard",
    "verra_vcs"
  ],
  "recordTypes": [
    "projects"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerRegistry": 100,
  "onlyChanges": true,
  "emitUnchanged": false,
  "compareWithPreviousRun": true,
  "stateKey": "CARBON_REGISTRY_MONITOR_STATE"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Normalized registry records emitted by this run.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

JSON summary with fetched/emitted/new/updated/unchanged counts and filters used.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("stevennguyen/carbon-registry-monitor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("stevennguyen/carbon-registry-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call stevennguyen/carbon-registry-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=stevennguyen/carbon-registry-monitor",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Carbon Credit Registry Monitor",
        "description": "Monitor Gold Standard and Verra VCS carbon credit projects, issuances, and retirements with normalized output and change detection.",
        "version": "0.3",
        "x-build-id": "K1NuSpfMXBDxbW7a6"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/stevennguyen~carbon-registry-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-stevennguyen-carbon-registry-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/stevennguyen~carbon-registry-monitor/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-stevennguyen-carbon-registry-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/stevennguyen~carbon-registry-monitor/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-stevennguyen-carbon-registry-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "registries",
                    "recordTypes",
                    "maxItemsPerRegistry"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "registries": {
                        "title": "Registries",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Which public registries to query.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "gold_standard",
                                "verra_vcs"
                            ],
                            "enumTitles": [
                                "Gold Standard",
                                "Verra VCS"
                            ]
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "gold_standard",
                            "verra_vcs"
                        ]
                    },
                    "recordTypes": {
                        "title": "Record types",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Which records to monitor. Projects are registry project records. Issuances and retirements are credit blocks / VCU asset records where available.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "projects",
                                "issuances",
                                "retirements"
                            ],
                            "enumTitles": [
                                "Projects",
                                "Credit issuances",
                                "Credit retirements"
                            ]
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "projects"
                        ]
                    },
                    "maxItemsPerRegistry": {
                        "title": "Max items per registry / record type",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 5000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum matching records to output per registry and record type.",
                        "default": 100
                    },
                    "countries": {
                        "title": "Countries filter",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional comma-separated country names, e.g. India, Brazil, Kenya."
                    },
                    "statuses": {
                        "title": "Statuses filter",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional comma-separated statuses, e.g. ISSUED, RETIRED, LISTED, Under validation."
                    },
                    "projectTypes": {
                        "title": "Project type / methodology filter",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional comma-separated terms matched against project type and methodology."
                    },
                    "searchTerms": {
                        "title": "Search terms",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional comma-separated terms matched against project names, IDs, proponents/developers, serials, retirement fields, countries, descriptions, and methodologies. Required for Verra issuance/retirement event queries to avoid a slow unfiltered registry query."
                    },
                    "onlyChanges": {
                        "title": "Only emit changed records",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "When enabled, skip unchanged records. New, updated, and missing records are still emitted.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "emitUnchanged": {
                        "title": "Emit unchanged records",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Emit unchanged records too. Useful for first-run exports and debugging.",
                        "default": false
                    },
                    "compareWithPreviousRun": {
                        "title": "Compare with previous run",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Store fingerprints in the default key-value store and mark records as new, updated, unchanged, or missing_from_current_run.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "stateKey": {
                        "title": "State key",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Key-value store key used to persist run state. Change this to keep separate monitors for separate filters.",
                        "default": "CARBON_REGISTRY_MONITOR_STATE"
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```