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Or you may want to look for credits with co-benefits tied to a particular sustainable development goal, like gender equality or clean water. For instance, you may want to choose carbon credits from a country where your company operates. If your company has particular ESG or CSR goals, you may wish to purchase carbon credits that align with those goals. Beyond the quantified carbon avoided or removed, they allow the offsetting companies to tell an impact story aligned with the projects being financed. One of the main differentiators among carbon projects are the co-benefits or positive spill-over effects they have on the surrounding communities and environment.
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> Geography or specific sustainable development goals They do require signifiant energy inputs and infrastructure, however, are currently less scaleable.
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Engineered carbon removal uses technology such as direct air capture, and carbon capture and storage to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.īecause nature-based removals are based on specific land use and environmental conditions, they are considered to have a higher risk of being reversed within decades.Įngineered carbon removals typically have less risk of reversal, and therefore longer durability. Nature-based carbon removal involves using natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and soils to capture and store carbon.
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engineered (longer-lived) carbon removals Many companies therefore opt for a mix of majority avoidance credits with a small percentage of removals credits mixed in. In general, carbon removals are less available and more expensive than avoidance credits. Others champion avoidance and reduction credits, since they align with the mitigation hierarchy (essentially: minimizing negative impacts first, before compensating). Some advocate for carbon removals, since the IPCC research shows humans will need to remove carbon – going beyond net zero – in order to reach the aims of the Paris Agreement. direct air capture).Įxperts disagree about which is best to purchase. Removal credits pull carbon out of the atmosphere, and can be natural (e.g. Buyers should act now, and try to reserve long-term high quality carbon credit volumes, when they are still available.Īvoidance or reduction credits lower the amount of emissions that would be released into the atmosphere as compared to a baseline scenario (e.g. In a market where demand will increase and supply is uncertain, it is crucial to embrace uncertainty. The remaining Core Carbon Principles apply to the crediting body that issued the carbon credits (often called ‘registries’), such as Verra, Gold Standard or Puro.earth, and to the sustainable development co-benefits of credits. No double counting: Credits should be counted only once toward achieving targets, avoiding double issuance, double claiming, or double use. Robust quantification of emission reductions and removals: Accurate measurement and quantification based on conservative, complete and scientific-based methods.Ĥ. Permanence / durability: Permanence refers to the duration of time carbon will be stored in natural or geologic sinks.ģ. Additionality: carbon credits must represent emission reductions that would not have occurred in the absence of the carbon credit project.Ģ. The 4 principles that relate to the emissions impact are:ġ. The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s Core Carbon Principles, suggests 10 principles that define ‘high integrity’ carbon credits. What is a high quality carbon credit / carbon offset?Ī carbon offset is simply a carbon credit (representing one tonne of carbon) that has been used to compensate for emissions activities.
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