Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon ... - FAO

Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon markets
4.1.2 Business plan
A business plan outlines costs and benefits to determine a project’s
financial feasibility. It is important to assess this before getting too far
advanced in project preparation. A business plan is a very important
document that should take into account all costs and benefits of the
project. Producing a business plan also creates more options for funding.
Potential investors will certainly wish to see the business plan of a
forestry VCM project in order to assess if the project idea is potentially
viable beyond the start-up activities.
Apart from the basic details of the project, it must include the following
sections:
1. Operating results
This section should describe the project’s concept, summarize the
objectives, and identify the resources (human and financial) needed.
It should also include a description of the milestones and projected
timeframes and an explanation of how the project will generate revenue
from carbon credits.
2. Cash flow data and projections (models)
This section needs to describe the project’s strategy for obtaining
working capital (such as grants, loans, investments, and sales) and how
it will be spent (salaries, operating expenses, equipment, etc.).
3. Sensitivity and risk analysis
This section should provide information on trends or events that might
affect the project (such as natural disasters, local conflicts, leakage
or operational risks) and a strategy on handling potential threats or
weaknesses in the marketplace. There are several templates of business
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