Responding to the allegations against the Trees for Global Benefits project in Uganda

On the 1st and 2nd of April the BBC intends to air a programme called ‘The Carbon Offset Trap’. The lead journalist/producer (Robert Nicholson) is from an organisation called Whistledown. He has been working with another journalist called Max de Halvevang, who has a history of being very critical of the VCM.

They highlighted a number of allegations centering on two Plan Vivo projects: run by Trees for Global Benefits (Albertine Rift & Mt. Elgon) in Uganda and Communitree in Nicaragua.

Their main allegations/questions related to farmer payments, food security, leakage, gender inclusion and farmer communications/consultations. 

Earthly runs a red-flag process, when such circumstances occur, where we seek to establish the fundamental truths behind such claims. Projects will be put on pause until they are proven to have fallen short of our high level of integrity or not. 

For this reason, we will not be selling the Albertine Rift & Mt. Elgon project until we are satisfied it meets our standards. Some of the key claims from the documentary are outlined below, alongside responses gleaned from our review to date. We will seek to verify these responses with the project developer and relevant third parties.

Concerns raised by the BBC:

Claim: Farmers aren’t paid sufficiently or on time, impacting livelihoods.

Response: 60% of carbon credit revenue goes directly to farmers via cash/in-kind benefits. Independent audits confirm payments were received and benefit-sharing was agreed with communities.

Claim: Food security is compromised - land used for trees no longer grows crops.

Response: Tree species include fruit and soil-enhancing trees (e.g., mango, avocado). 27 of 28 farmers in audits reported improved food production; only one flagged an issue, which was addressed.

Claim: Farmers don’t understand contracts or have copies in local languages.

Response: Contracts are available in local languages; facilitators were trained to support low-literacy participants. An issue identified in 2019 was resolved through updated guidance and auditor approval.

Claim: Payments go to male heads of households, disempowering women.

Response: The Albertine project uses the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) to support shared household decision-making. Independent verifiers confirmed women’s participation and gender-sensitive design.

Claim: The project has grown too fast - original audit shows 6,000 farmers, now 41,000+.

Response: Growth is explained by high demand and expansion over several years. All data is transparently reported in annual reports and monitored through third-party verification.

Claim: Trees are being cut down again (leakage) or carbon estimates are overstated.

Response: Earthly’s independent review found strong leakage mitigation (land-use plans, tenure security, agroforestry). Carbon estimates are based on field inventories, not satellite data alone, and models are peer-reviewed.