Primers for those who want to better understand carbon offsets.

• https://vcmprimer.org/ - overview of voluntary carbon markets and how they work https://cdrprimer.org/ https://agecon.unl.edu/ag-carbon-credits

CRITERIA TO BE MET BY ANY CARBON PROJECT

A big thing with carbon markets are

• Permanence
• Substitution
• Additionality
• No double counting
• Validation and verification

Mitigation hierarchy

• Avoid, minimise, restore and THEN offset

MUST BE PAIRED WITH

• The offsetting of unavoidable emissions (Mark Carney — Offsets should only be reserved for residual emissions)
• Aggressive emissions reductions
• In my opinion, they also must be paired with an equitable distribution of benefits: Controlling credit margins, and mandating that a minimum proportion of the money generated from credit sales must be spent on the field/into further restoration/held by a land trust or local community structure. These are natural gains and the revenues should be naturalised in turn.
• TED countdown guide https://time.com/6197651/carbon-credits-fight-climate-change/
  • 3 types of credit proposed: reduction, protection, and removal. The protection and reduction categories should not be called credits as many people are using them now as part of a claim to be “net zero”—even though they don’t neutralize emissions.
• It’s widely accepted that offsets shouldn’t represent more than 5% of any company’s mitigation strategy