Given the growing demand and the risks associated with low-quality carbon credits, practical and trusted guidance is critical to help carbon credit buyers navigate the complicated landscape and enable them to identify high-quality carbon credits.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Oeko-Institut are therefore developing the “Carbon Credit Guidance for Buyers”. The project is implemented in four phases. This paper presents the results from Phase 1 in which criteria are identified to assess the quality of carbon credits. Phase 2 of the project is to develop and test a methodology to assess carbon credits against the criteria. Phase 3 is to apply the methodology to different carbon credits. Phase 4 is to combine Phase 3 results with additional recommendations to produce the Carbon Credit Guidance for Buyers. This paper presents an updated set of criteria based on the input received during a stakeholder consultation held between November 2019 and January 2020.
This paper has a limited scope. First, the paper focuses on carbon credits generated from project based activities. Second, the paper is limited to carbon credits that are issued for emission reductions or removals of GHGs expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
The paper is organized as follows: Section 4 first provides an overview of the criteria used for assessing the quality of carbon credits and describes how these are grouped into quality objectives. Section 5 describes the objectives and criteria in greater detail. Finally, Section 6 provides an outlook on further areas of work that the project team will conduct to help stakeholders to ensure high-quality carbon credits. The Annex lists references that contributed to the information in this document.