vocabulary: Patch Carbon Credit Vocabulary
provider: Patch
providerId: patch-io
version: '0.1'
created: '2026-05-24'
description: |
  Domain vocabulary covering the entities and dimensions exposed by the Patch
  Carbon API. Aligns operational primitives (projects, orders, line items,
  inventory, vintages) with carbon market vocabulary (mechanism, standard,
  technology type, registry, SDGs) so this provider can be cross-referenced
  with other API Evangelist climate profiles.
concepts:
- term: Carbon Credit
  definition: A tradable certificate representing one tonne of CO2-equivalent reduced, avoided, or removed.
- term: Carbon Removal
  definition: Technology- or nature-based credits whose underlying activity physically removes CO2 from the atmosphere (DAC, biochar, mineralization, ARR, ocean alkalinity, etc.).
- term: Avoidance Credit
  definition: A credit issued for an emissions reduction that would not otherwise have occurred (REDD+, renewable energy, methane capture).
- term: Vintage
  definition: The year (or year range) in which the underlying emissions reduction or removal was realized.
- term: Mechanism
  definition: One of {removal, avoidance}; the high-level category of climate impact.
- term: Standard / Registry
  definition: The carbon program that issues and tracks the credit (Verra VCS, Gold Standard, Puro.earth, ACR, CAR).
- term: Technology Type
  definition: The technology pathway producing the credit (DAC, biochar, mineralization, REDD+, ARR, blue carbon, etc.).
- term: Parent Technology Type
  definition: The broad family of technology types (e.g. Carbon Removal, Nature-Based, Avoidance).
- term: Inventory
  definition: Per-vintage units of mass (in grams) available for purchase at a given price.
- term: Order
  definition: A buyer commitment to purchase a quantity of credits from one or more projects.
- term: Order Line Item
  definition: A per-project, per-vintage allocation inside an order.
- term: Offtake Agreement
  definition: A long-term forward commitment to purchase credits from a (often pre-commercial) removal project.
- term: Beneficiary (issued_to)
  definition: The end entity to which retired credits are attributed.
dimensions:
  Mechanism: [removal, avoidance]
  TechnologyTypes: [dac, biochar, mineralization, redd_plus, arr, blue_carbon, ocean_alkalinity, biomass, soil, renewable_energy, methane_capture]
  Standards: [Verra, Gold Standard, Puro.earth, ACR, CAR]
  OrderStates: [draft, placed, processing, complete, cancelled]
  Units: [g, kg, t]
  Currencies: [USD, EUR, GBP]
alignment:
  schemaOrg:
  - schema:Place (Project)
  - schema:Offer (Inventory)
  - schema:Order
  - schema:Product (carbon credit)
  jsonLdContext: ../json-ld/patch-io-context.jsonld