Evaluating Carbon Offsets from Forestry and Energy Projects : How Do They Compare?

Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrial countries accept caps on their emissions of greenhouse gases. They are permitted to acquire offsetting emissions reductions from developing countries - which do not have emissions limitations - to assist in complying with these caps. Because these emissions reductions are defined against a hypothetical baseline, practical issues arise in ensuring that the reductions are genuine. Forestry-related emissions reduction projects are often thought to present greater difficulties in measurement and implementation, than energy-related emissions reduction projects. The author discusses how project characteristics affect the process for determining compliance with each of the criteria for qualifying. Those criteria are: 1) Additionality. Would these emissions reductions not have taken place without the project? 2) Baseline and systems boundaries (leakage). What would business-as-usual emissions have been without the project? And in this comparison, how broad should spatial, and temporal system boundaries be? 3) Measurement (or sequestration). How accurately can we measure actual with-project emissions levels? 4) Duration or permanence. Will the project have an enduring mitigating effect? 5) Local impact. Will the project benefit its neighbors? For all the criteria except permanence, it is difficult to find generic distinctions between land use change and forestry and energy projects, since both categories comprise diverse project types. The important distinctions among projects have to do with such things as: a) The level and distribution of the project's direct financial benefits. b) How much the project is integrated with the larger system. c) The project components' internal homogeneity and geographic dispersion. d) The local replicability of project technologies. Permanence is an issue specific to land use and forestry projects. The author describes various approaches to ensure permanence, or adjust credits for duration: the ton-year approach (focusing on the benefits from deferring climatic damage, and rewarding longer deferral); the combination approach (bundling current land use change and forestry emissions reductions with future reductions in the buyer's allowed amount); a technology-acceleration approach; and an insurance approach.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Chomitz, Kenneth M.
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2000-06
Subjects:	ABATEMENT, AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AIR, AIR POLLUTION, ATMOSPHERE, BARRIERS TO ADOPTION, BASELINE DETERMINATION, BASELINE EMISSIONS, BASELINE LEVELS, BASELINE METHODOLOGIES, BASIC METALS, BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION, BIOMASS, BOILERS, CALCULATION, CARBON, CARBON EMISSIONS, CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS, CARBON OFFSETS, CARBON PLANTATIONS, CARBON POOLS, CARBON PROJECT, CARBON PROJECTS, CARBON RELEASE, CARBON SEQUESTRATION, CARBON STORAGE, CATTLE RAISING, CELLULOSE, CERTIFICATION APPROACH, CERTIFIED EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS, CLEAN DEVELOPMENT, CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM, CLIMATE, CLIMATE ACTION, CLIMATE CHANGE, COAL, COAL CONSUMPTION, COAL PLANT, COGENERATION, CONSERVATION, CONSERVATION PROJECTS, CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL, COST SAVINGS, DECISION MAKING, DEFORESTATION, DEMAND FOR ENERGY, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, DIESEL, DIESEL FUEL, DIFFUSION, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, ECOSYSTEM, ELASTICITIES, ELASTICITY OF DEMAND, ELECTRIC MOTORS, ELECTRIC POWER, ELECTRICITY, EMISSIONS, EMISSIONS LEVELS, EMISSIONS REDUCTION, EMISSIONS SCENARIOS, EMPLOYMENT, ENERGY CONSUMERS, ENERGY CONSUMPTION, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, ENERGY SAVINGS, ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS, EXPLOITATION, FARMS, FOREST COVER, FORESTRY, FORESTS, FOSSIL FUEL, FOSSIL FUELS, FUEL, FUEL CONSUMPTION, FUEL OIL, FUEL PRICE, FUEL- SWITCHING PROJECTS, FUEL-SWITCHING PROJECTS, FUELS, GAS, GAS COMBUSTION, GLOBAL WARMING, GREENHOUSE, GREENHOUSE GAS, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, GREENHOUSE GASES, GRID POWER, HEATING PLANTS, HOUSEHOLD ENERGY, HYPOTHETICAL BASELINE, INELASTIC DEMAND, INSURANCE, INVENTORIES, JOINT IMPLEMENTATION, KYOTO PROTOCOL, LAND USE, LAND USE CHANGE, MARKET PRICES, METHANE, METHANE RECOVERY, MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE, NATURAL GAS, NEGATIVE LEAKAGE, NET EMISSIONS, NET EMISSIONS REDUCTION, OIL, OPPORTUNITY COSTS, POLLUTION CONTROL, POWER GENERATION, POWER PLANTS, PRESENT VALUE, PRICE ELASTICITY, PRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND, PROGRAMS, REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS, REDUCTION IN CARBON, RENEWABLE ENERGY, RESERVOIRS, SAVINGS, SOIL, SOILS, SOLAR POWER, SPATIAL PATTERNS, STREAMS, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, TIMBER, TROPICAL DEFORESTATION, VEGETATION, WAGES, WATER QUALITY, WIND,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/06/437511/evaluating-carbon-offsets-forestry-energy-projects https://hdl.handle.net/10986/19838
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