Independence and governance

Independence built into the corporate structure, not into a policy page.

The integrity of a carbon credit rating is only as strong as the independence of the entity producing it.

The financial-independence-policy problem

Most rating services and advisory firms address independence through internal policies: conflicts of interest registers, Chinese walls, and analyst compensation guidelines. These approaches can work, but they rely on voluntary compliance and are difficult to audit from the outside.

The deeper problem is that a policy-based independence model does not address structural conflicts. If the entity producing the rating also earns revenue from carbon credit trading, brokerage, or developer advisory services, the commercial incentive to maintain relationships with rated parties exists regardless of any policy.

V4 addresses this at the corporate structure level, not at the policy level.

The entity firewall

Entity A (the rating entity) has no commercial relationship with any rated party. The firewall is a corporate fact, not a policy commitment.

Revenue model

V4's revenue comes exclusively from subscribers: corporate buyers, carbon exchanges, financial institutions, and compliance entities that pay for access to the rating database and API.

Project developers cannot pay for a V4 rating of their own project. Developer-requested pre-issuance project reviews are available, but the resulting report is published in full, so the output is a public good rather than a commercial service.

This model means that V4's commercial incentive is to produce ratings that are useful to buyers and investors, not to produce ratings that project developers want to see.

Analyst compensation structure

V4 analysts are compensated on fixed salary and quality metrics. No analyst is compensated on the basis of rating outcomes, subscriber acquisition linked to rated parties, or any form of commission tied to project performance.

Analyst quality metrics are based on: accuracy of methodology compliance checks (verified by peer review), completeness of field interview records, and timeliness of data integration.

Advisory board

Advisory board members are announced as they join. Full bios will be published at launch.

Disclosures and conflicts

V4 does not hold any carbon credits. We do not trade carbon credits. We do not have financial interests in any rated project.

If any of the above were to change, or if a conflict of interest with a rated party were identified, V4 would disclose it in the affected rating report.

Requests to review a specific rating for methodology errors or factual inaccuracies are handled through V4's published review process.

See our governance disclosures for the advisory board structure, methodology committee remit, and policy on related-party transactions.

Questions about governance or independence?