Plan Vivo was born out of a desire to help smallholders Chiapas, Mexico, plant trees and generate the world’s first carbon credits. Since then, Plan Vivo has used its ideology and network of stakeholders to evolve into a system that can help provide environmental and social benefits to communities around the world.

Plan Vivo believes that action should be taken to aid communities on the forefront of the climate crisis. This is achieved by applying the “Plan Vivo” concept of:

• Relieving poverty by offering sustainable livelihoods for communities whose environments have been degraded
• Restoring and protecting environments so to help protect communities against climate change and provide a variety of sustainable development benefits
• Building local capacity through the transfer of knowledge, skills and resources to developing countries

In this process, Plan Vivo projects capture carbon from the atmosphere. This can be claimed by projects as Plan Vivo Certificates, which can be sold by projects to help fund their operations and bring on new participants. 60% of income from the sale of Plan Vivo Certificates goes directly to the participants.