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

This policy brief examines how international greenhouse gas emission offsets can be structured to provide a net decrease in global emissions. It notes that while offsets like those from the Clean Development Mechanism reduce abatement costs, they typically offer no net atmospheric benefit unless they generate surplus reductions. Achieving a net decrease requires certain additionality, the avoidance of double counting, and ensuring surplus reductions do not count toward host country pledges, utilizing methods such as unit discounting or cancellation.

• International greenhouse gas emission offsets, such as those from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which has issued over one billion credits, are used to lower the overall costs of GHG abatement by allowing flexibility in where reductions occur. While they can potentially lead to more ambitious targets, they generally provide no net benefit to the atmosphere unless projects reduce emissions by more than the offsets they issue.
• At COP 17 in Durban, UNFCCC Parties called for new market mechanisms and other approaches to achieve a "net decrease and/or avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions". A net decrease can be viewed from two perspectives: at the activity level, where actual reductions exceed issued credits, or at the global level, where emissions are reduced beyond existing country pledges.
• To achieve a net decrease in global GHG emissions, four conditions must be met: ensuring additionality is relatively certain, producing surplus reductions (more abatement than credited), avoiding double counting, and ensuring surplus reductions are not counted toward the host country's mitigation pledge. Policy-makers can use tools like unit discounting or cancellation to achieve this.

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} }