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Our criteria for emissions reductions projects


There are many different categories of emissions reductions projects, and they vary widely with respect to additionality, quality, environmental benefits, transparency etc. There are two important frameworks that together ensure quality, CDM and Gold Standard.

All of the projects available through Tricorona Green are registered under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Moreover, they are all projects that focus on renewable energy production or energy efficiency, with significant social sustainability benefits.

No trees, therefore, and no large scale industrial projects that might have negative consequences for the local population, but by conducting the projects within the CDM framework, all projects are reviewed and approved by the UN body CDM Executive Board.

CDM


CDM stands for Clean Development Mechanism, and is the mechanism for carbon dioxide reduction projects defined under the Kyoto Protocol and the Marakesh Accords, within the framework on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. See the UNFCCC website or Wikipedia for more information.

All CDM projects are assessed and authorised by the UN body CDM Executive Board. In order to qualify, each project must meet a range of demanding criteria with respect to methodology, additionality, contribution to sustainable development, etc.

  • Additionality: This means that the projects would not have happened without the possibility of selling the carbon offsets. This means that your money doesn't go to any projects that would have happened anyway.
  • Transparency: All CDM projects are audited independent third parties, as well as being reviewed and approved by the CDM Executive Board, prior to any carbon credits being issued. All information regarding the project's definition and implementation is publicly available.
  • Genuine carbon reductions: Every year, the project is audited by an independent auditor which determines the volume of carbon emissions reductions achieved within the project. The CDM Executive Board then issues carbon credits, known as Certified Emissions Reductions or CERs, corresponding to these reductions. Accordingly, it is only emissions reductions that have already been proven to have occurred that can be counted, not the project owner's estimates of the total future emissions reductions over the lifetime of the project.
  • Traceability: All CERs are issued with a unique serial number and registered in a central registry maintained by the UN. This register is your guarantee against double-selling of the offsets. With unregistered/uncertified projects, it can be difficult to ascertain that the emissions reductions have not be sold several times to different buyers.
  • Contribution to sustainable development: A key criterion for CDM is that the projects contribute to sustainable development in the host country, usually through technology transfer. There are also strict requirement for stakeholder dialogue with the affect local population, to ensure that the project contributes to sustainable development at a local level.

You can read more about the lifecycle of small scale CDM projects here.

Gold Standard


Even though all CDM projects do achieve the stated carbon emissions reductions, some specific types of CDM projects have attracted criticism on a range of sustainability issues.

Gold Standard is a standard defined by a range of international NGOs (including WWF International) to address these issues. Gold Standard sets an even higher quality bar for carbon emissions reduction projects, including the following.

  • Project type (methodology): The only types of project that are allowed within Gold Standard are small scale renewable energy and energy efficiency. This excludes, amongst other things, all forms of forestry projects as well as large scale industrial projects.
  • Stakeholder dialogue: The requirements for stakeholder dialogue are even higher within Gold Standard than CDM, and Gold Standard attaches more importance to the project's contribution to social developmemt of and benefits to the local population.

All of the projects that are available through Tricorona Green fall within Gold Standard's restrictions on project type (methodology), and we are currently in the process of submitting some of them for formal certification as Gold Standard projects. We expect to complete this process during the first half of 2008.
News

2010-09-01

Tricorona secures its position as a world-leading producer of Gold Standard carbon offsets with three new wind farm projects

2010-08-10

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