Projects and Offsets

Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Disclosure: Key Elements of a Prospective U.S. Program

Projects and Offsets

Because GHG emissions have the same warming effect regardless of where on the globe they are emitted, it is useful to encourage the most cost-effective GHG mitigation opportunities even if they are not in the United States or at a facility owned by a reporting entity. Many companies have already invested in projects to reduce GHG emissions, for example, by investing in renewable energy projects. Others are investing in projects to remove and store, or “sequester,” carbon through, for example, reforestation and conservation. This work has been done by U.S. firms both domestically and abroad and provides an important means of keeping GHGs out of the atmosphere.

Allowing companies to register the progress of these programs would likely stimulate investments in more such projects. To this end, entities participating in a GHG reporting program should have the option of reporting reductions and offsets achieved through projects both inside and outside the United States, for example, through carbon sequestration and increased energy efficiency. Such offsets should: (1) be certified as real, quantifiable, and not resulting in increased emissions elsewhere; (2) be verified by a third party qualified to provide such certification; and (3) pertain only to projects not included in the entities’ required GHG reports.

Entities should also be able to report voluntarily transfers of ownership of a given GHG reduction or offset.

NEXT: Baseline Protection and Credit Trading

Download PDF