Table 1. Principles of high-quality... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1.

Principles of high-quality offsets

Criteria	Description of criteria	Concerns
Real and measurable	Offset GHG reductions are material, quantifiable and traceable	Offsets may be fictitious or inaccurate
Additional	GHG reductions would not have happened without this project	Reductions were already in the works, so there is no overall lowering of GHGs
Transparent	Entities are not trying to keep anything secret	Information may be hard to find or difficult to understand
Permanent	Offsets are not temporary or fleeting	Offset projects will experience some form of reversal, such as from fire
Verified and registered	Formalities are conducted by independent, reputable third parties	Offset projects may be informal and unverifiable
Accounts for leakage	Boundaries, scope, time and technical reasons for potential leaks	If there is leakage outside the project, overall reductions may not occur
Enforceable	Offsets are backed by legal contracts with sanctions for lack of compliance	Volunteer transactions (those without enforcement) can change over time
Not double counted	Offsets are only claimed by one entity	There will be more than one entity counting the GHG reduction
Retired	Once purchased, offsets are taken off the market	Offsets will enter back into circulation, perhaps allowing for double counting across time
Co-benefits	Offset projects create positive educational, social, economic development and resiliency	Carbon-centric projects may have unintentional negative tradeoffs and miss opportunities for public good

Criteria	Description of criteria	Concerns
Real and measurable	Offset GHG reductions are material, quantifiable and traceable	Offsets may be fictitious or inaccurate
Additional	GHG reductions would not have happened without this project	Reductions were already in the works, so there is no overall lowering of GHGs
Transparent	Entities are not trying to keep anything secret	Information may be hard to find or difficult to understand
Permanent	Offsets are not temporary or fleeting	Offset projects will experience some form of reversal, such as from fire
Verified and registered	Formalities are conducted by independent, reputable third parties	Offset projects may be informal and unverifiable
Accounts for leakage	Boundaries, scope, time and technical reasons for potential leaks	If there is leakage outside the project, overall reductions may not occur
Enforceable	Offsets are backed by legal contracts with sanctions for lack of compliance	Volunteer transactions (those without enforcement) can change over time
Not double counted	Offsets are only claimed by one entity	There will be more than one entity counting the GHG reduction
Retired	Once purchased, offsets are taken off the market	Offsets will enter back into circulation, perhaps allowing for double counting across time
Co-benefits	Offset projects create positive educational, social, economic development and resiliency	Carbon-centric projects may have unintentional negative tradeoffs and miss opportunities for public good

Source: Extended from Second Nature (2016)