Potential for international offsets to provide a net decrease of GHG emissions

The document examines how international offset mechanisms, which typically provide no net atmospheric benefit, could be designed to deliver a net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. It identifies the need for certain additionality, surplus reductions, the avoidance of double counting, and the exclusion of surplus reductions from host country pledges to achieve a net atmospheric benefit.

• While international offsets can reduce the overall costs of greenhouse gas abatement, they generally provide no net benefit to the atmosphere unless projects reduce emissions by more than the credits issued.
• Achieving a net decrease in global GHG emissions depends on four specific conditions: ensuring additionality is relatively certain, producing abatement that exceeds the credited amount (surplus reductions), preventing double counting, and ensuring surplus reductions are not credited toward the host country's own mitigation pledge.
• Policy-makers have access to existing methods to achieve a net decrease, including the use of cancellation or unit discounting.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Potential for international offsets to provide a net decrease of GHG emissions. https://www.sei.org/publications/potential-for-international-offsets-to-provide-a-net-decrease-of-ghg-emissions-policy-brief/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Potential for international offsets to provide a net decrease of GHG emissions. 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/potential-for-international-offsets-to-provide-a-net-decrease-of-ghg-emissions-policy-brief/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Potential for international offsets to provide a net decrease of GHG emissions |date=6 November 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/potential-for-international-offsets-to-provide-a-net-decrease-of-ghg-emissions-policy-brief/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013potential, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Potential for international offsets to provide a net decrease of GHG emissions}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/potential-for-international-offsets-to-provide-a-net-decrease-of-ghg-emissions-policy-brief/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }