Most carbon offtake agreements run between 5 and 15 years. Early-stage removal projects, particularly direct air capture and large-scale afforestation, sometimes ask for longer terms to underwrite the project's capital expenditure.

A forward contract typically covers a short to medium term (1-5 years) with a fixed volume and price. A carbon offtake agreement is longer (5-15 years), covers larger total volumes, and usually includes more detailed provisions on quality, underdelivery, and replacement.

No, but they are most common among large emitters with multi-year decarbonisation commitments. Smaller companies can participate through aggregated offtakes structured by brokers and advisors, which pool demand from multiple buyers into a single contract.

Most carbon offtake agreements run 5 to 15 years. Early-stage removal projects, particularly direct air capture and BECCS facilities, sometimes request longer commitments to underwrite the capital expenditure required to build the facility. Nature-based projects typically sit in the 10 to 15 year range, matching the project crediting period.

Reversal risk is shared. The registry buffer pool absorbs the first layer of losses across all projects in the registry's portfolio. Beyond the buffer pool, the contract allocates residual reversal risk through specific clauses, typically requiring the seller to replace lost credits from their wider portfolio. Buyers who skip the contractual layer carry the residual risk themselves.

A make good clause sets out the steps a seller must take when they cannot deliver the contracted volume of credits. Instead of triggering an immediate default, it gives the seller defined cure options: replacement credits from another project, an extended delivery period, or liquidated damages. The clause is what stops a single bad year on a project from collapsing the whole contract.