Carbon Credits

جوهر الإفصاح

Disclosure 102-10 requires an organization to report carbon credits generated outside its value chain and purchased by the organization. A carbon credit is a transferable or tradable instrument representing one metric ton of CO₂ equivalent of greenhouse gas emission reduction or removal.

The organization must report the total amount of carbon credits cancelled during the reporting period in metric tons of CO₂ equivalent and provide a numerical breakdown between credits from GHG emission-reduction projects and credits from GHG-removal projects. It can additionally report the percentage represented by each project type.

The organization should also report the total amount of carbon credits purchased but not cancelled during the reporting period. Where it purchases removal credits, it should identify whether the underlying projects are nature-based or technological.

For every project whose credits were cancelled, the organization must report the project name and ID, project type, cancellation serial number or range, cancellation date, vintage, host country and issuing registry. Vintage is the year in which the GHG reduction or removal occurred rather than the year in which the credit was purchased or cancelled.

For each cancelled-credit project, the organization must explain how the project adheres to the eight quality criteria: additionality, credible baselines, permanence, leakage avoidance, unique issuance and claiming, regular monitoring, independent validation and verification, and GHG programme governance.

Where a project does not meet one or more quality criteria, the organization should explain why and describe the actions taken or planned to achieve compliance. It should also report whether credits cancelled in earlier periods failed to meet quality criteria during the current reporting period.

The organization should explain how double use, double issuance and double claiming are prevented and report whether the credits are associated with a corresponding adjustment. It should report the crediting and monitoring periods, the validation and verification standards and certifications, and the GHG programme’s rules, auditor-accreditation procedures, stakeholder-consultation procedures and grievance mechanisms.

The organization must report the purpose of each carbon-credit cancellation. Relevant purposes can include compliance with a mandatory or voluntary carbon-crediting programme, beyond-value-chain mitigation or climate contributions, and counterbalancing residual GHG emissions in the context of a net-zero target.

Carbon credits must be excluded from gross GHG emissions and gross GHG emissions-reduction targets. The organization should explain how the use of credits does not impede achievement of its gross reduction targets and describe their role in its climate-change transition plan.

Only GHG-removal credits can be used to counterbalance residual GHG emissions, and only as the final step of the mitigation hierarchy after the organization has reduced at least 90% of its emissions, unless an applicable sectoral pathway provides otherwise. Credits from emission-reduction projects cannot be used to counterbalance residual emissions.

The organization must describe the impacts on people and the environment associated with all carbon-credit projects whose credits were purchased during the reporting period, whether or not the credits were cancelled. It must explain how it continuously monitors and evaluates these impacts.

The organization should have a due-diligence process for selecting projects that maximizes positive impacts and prevents or mitigates negative impacts. It should report the impact-monitoring period and identify impacts related to pollution, corruption, land acquisition, human rights, vulnerable groups, livelihoods, food security, water rights, land rights and the risk of forced eviction.

The organization must report the categories of stakeholders consulted and explain how stakeholder engagement informed project implementation. Where projects affect Indigenous Peoples’ lands, territories or resources, it should explain whether free, prior and informed consent was obtained and how.

The organization must explain how socio-economic benefits are provided to local communities and Indigenous Peoples, including evidence of payments, employment, skills development or training. It must also describe both positive and negative biodiversity impacts and how biodiversity is conserved.

Carbon-credit projects can create trade-offs, such as land-based removal projects reducing land available for food production. The organization must explain how these trade-offs are assessed and should describe the process used to mitigate them.

Information already published by a third party can be incorporated through a clear reference where it covers all relevant quality criteria or impact elements. The organization remains responsible for ensuring that the referenced information is complete, current and applicable to the credits it purchased or cancelled.

تدعم هذه المواد التعليمية من LRA إعداد الإفصاح. وللاطلاع على المتطلبات الدقيقة، ارجع دائمًا إلى المصدر الرسمي لـ Global Reporting Initiative.