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This case study research analyzes six water quality trading and offset programs across Canada, the United States, and New Zealand to identify policy and program mechanisms for reducing nutrient and contaminant loading, specifically phosphorus and nitrogen, with a view toward application in Manitoba.

This report by Friends of the Earth International analyzes the 2010 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between California, Acre (Brazil), and Chiapas (Mexico) to create a REDD+ carbon credit system. The author argues that these market-based mechanisms, including jurisdictional REDD+ programs and cap-and-trade offsets, facilitate the commodification of nature and lead to human rights violations, land dispossession, and the marginalization of indigenous and traditional communities.

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.