Implications of international GHG offsets on global climate change mitigation

The document assesses the impact of international GHG offsets on global emission-reduction pledges, warning that double-counting reductions could significantly dilute climate ambition.

• If international offsets are counted by both the supplying developing country and the buying developed country, the ambition of current pledges could be reduced by as much as 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2e by 2020. This would increase the gap between current pledges and the abatement required to limit global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C.
• The dilution of climate pledges could be even more severe if the offsets used do not represent additional emission reductions.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Implications of international GHG offsets on global climate change mitigation. https://www.sei.org/publications/implications-of-international-ghg-offsets-on-global-climate-change-mitigation/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Implications of international GHG offsets on global climate change mitigation. 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/implications-of-international-ghg-offsets-on-global-climate-change-mitigation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Implications of international GHG offsets on global climate change mitigation |date=13 August 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/implications-of-international-ghg-offsets-on-global-climate-change-mitigation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013implications, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Implications of international GHG offsets on global climate change mitigation}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/implications-of-international-ghg-offsets-on-global-climate-change-mitigation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }