Has Joint Implementation reduced GHG emissions?

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute evaluates the environmental integrity of Joint Implementation (JI) during the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period (2008–2012). The analysis finds that JI likely increased global greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 600 million tCO2e due to widespread issues with additionality, overcrediting, and a lack of international oversight under 'Track 1' procedures.

• Joint Implementation (JI) may have increased global greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 600 million tCO2e because many projects were non-additional or overcredited.
• A review of 60 representative projects revealed that additionality claims were not plausible for 43% of the projects and 73% of the issued Emission Reduction Units (ERUs).
• The vast majority of ERUs (97%) were issued under 'Track 1', which allows host countries to set their own approval rules without international oversight. In contrast, 'Track 2' projects, which are reviewed by the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (JISC), showed a higher share of plausible environmental integrity.
• Of the six largest project types, only N2O abatement from nitric acid production demonstrated high environmental integrity. For the other five types, 80% of issued ERUs came from categories with low or questionable integrity.
• Auditors, specifically Bureau Veritas Certification Holding SAS, are criticized for failing to perform their functions. Bureau Veritas audited 56% of all projects (generating 78% of total ERUs), and 77% of the projects it determined in the study sample had implausible additionality claims.
• The environmental integrity of JI varied significantly by country. While 70% of ERUs in Poland and 97% in Germany were rated as high integrity, over 80% of ERUs from Russia and Ukraine presented significant integrity concerns.
• JI may have undermined the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) emission reduction target by approximately 400 million tCO2, as over 560 million ERUs were used in the EU ETS as of April 2015.

APA

Kollmuss, A., Schneider, L., & Zhezherin, V. (2015). Has Joint Implementation reduced GHG emissions? Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2015-JI-environmental-integrity.pdf

Chicago

Kollmuss, Anja, Lambert Schneider, and Vladyslav Zhezherin. Has Joint Implementation reduced GHG emissions? Stockholm Environment Institute, 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2015-JI-environmental-integrity.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kollmuss |first1=Anja |last2=Schneider |first2=Lambert |last3=Zhezherin |first3=Vladyslav |title=Has Joint Implementation reduced GHG emissions? |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2015-JI-environmental-integrity.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kollmuss2015has, author = {Kollmuss, Anja and Schneider, Lambert and Zhezherin, Vladyslav}, title = {{Has Joint Implementation reduced GHG emissions?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2015-JI-environmental-integrity.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }