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 comp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Chomitz, Kenneth M.
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
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 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19838

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Summary:	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.

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

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