Unveiling the Essence of Additionality: Ensuring Effective Carbon Credits and Offsetting Programs

Have you ever heard of the term "additionality" in relation to carbon credits and carbon offsetting? It may sound like a complicated concept, but it's actually quite important in ensuring the effectiveness of these programs.

So what is additionality? Essentially, it refers to the idea that the reductions achieved by a project need to be "additional" to what would have happened if the project had not existed. In other words, the project should only exist because of the funding from carbon credits. This ensures that the project is actually reducing emissions that wouldn't have been reduced otherwise.

To determine additionality, there are two main approaches: project-specific and standardized. Project-specific approaches rely on analyzing the individual characteristics of a project to determine if it is additional, while standardized approaches evaluate projects against pre-determined eligibility criteria.

Both approaches have their pros and cons, but they are both crucial in ensuring the environmental integrity of carbon credits and offsets. Without additionality, there is a risk that projects may be claiming to reduce emissions that would have been reduced anyway, which undermines the effectiveness of these programs.

It's important to note that additionality is not a perfect science and involves some level of subjectivity and uncertainty. However, there are certain barriers and guidelines that can be used to assess additionality and ensure that only high-quality carbon credits are being used.

Additionality is a key principle in the 10 Core Carbon Principles, ensuring high-integrity carbon credits as stated by the Integrity council for the voluntary carbon markets( see image below). It states that emissions reductions must be additional, incentivised by carbon credit revenues. This principle maintains program credibility and promotes genuine emissions reductions

So the next time you hear the term "additionality," remember that it's an important concept that helps to ensure the effectiveness and integrity of carbon credits and carbon offsetting programs.

We will be covering more on additionalty in the coming articles, but most importantly we look to facilitate a discussion in our bid to increase the trust and transparency in the voluntary carbon markets.