• Additionality – the project must demonstrate that the emission reduction benefits from the project are beyond what would occur in a business as usual scenario. For instance, wetlands restoration required as mitigation for draining wetlands is not eligible, since law already mandates this work.
• Leakage – unanticipated increases and decreases in greenhouse gas emissions directly resulting from the project, typically outside the project boundaries. For example, other trees are cleared for agriculture on a nearby site to compensate for the acres reforested.
• Co-benefits – besides reducing emissions, projects should increase ecosystem values such as wildlife habitat, protection for rare and endangered plants and animals, water quality and flood protection. Click here to learn more about the co-benefits of carbon sequestration in the Northern Great Plains.
• Permanence- a perpetual conservation easement that prohibits development and disruptive land uses provides the needed legal protection to permanently protect terrestrial carbon stocks.