jpText_FINAL.qxd

The GHG Protocol for Project Accounting establishes a framework for project developers to credibly quantify GHG reductions by comparing project emissions against a counter-factual baseline. It details two primary baseline procedures—project-specific and performance standard—and emphasizes the importance of defining a GHG assessment boundary that includes both primary and significant secondary effects. The guide outlines six core accounting principles (relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, accuracy, and conservativeness) and provides detailed requirements for monitoring and reporting reductions to ensure environmental integrity and transparency.

• The Project Protocol defines GHG reductions as either a decrease in GHG emissions or an increase in the removals or storage of GHGs from the atmosphere, measured relative to baseline emissions.
• A GHG assessment boundary must encompass all primary effects—the intended changes in GHG emissions—and all significant secondary effects, which are unintended changes that may occur regardless of the project's physical or legal boundaries.
• Secondary effects are categorized as either one-time effects, occurring during construction or decommissioning, or upstream and downstream effects, which are recurring changes associated with project inputs or products.
• The project-specific baseline procedure identifies a baseline scenario—a hypothetical description of what would most likely have occurred without climate mitigation considerations—through a structured analysis of barriers and net benefits.
• The performance standard baseline procedure estimates baseline emissions using a GHG emission rate derived from a numerical analysis of all identified baseline candidates, serving as a benchmark for multiple similar projects.
• Additionality is the criterion that GHG reductions should only be recognized for project activities that would not have happened anyway; the Protocol incorporates this implicitly through its baseline procedures rather than requiring a separate demonstration.
• Baseline emission rates can be static, remaining constant over time, or dynamic, changing to reflect evolving circumstances such as electricity grid shifts or biological growth patterns in LULUCF projects.
• The Protocol is underpinned by six accounting principles: relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, accuracy, and conservativeness, the latter of which requires that reductions not be overestimated when uncertainty is high.
• The Protocol intentionally excludes guidance on sustainable development, stakeholder consultation, ownership of GHG reductions, confidentiality, and the specific conduct of third-party verification.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). jpText_FINAL.qxd. http://pdf.wri.org/ghg_project_accounting.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. jpText_FINAL.qxd. n.d. http://pdf.wri.org/ghg_project_accounting.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=jpText_FINAL.qxd |url=http://pdf.wri.org/ghg_project_accounting.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendjptextfinalqxd, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{jpText\_FINAL.qxd}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {http://pdf.wri.org/ghg_project_accounting.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }