How is the Climate Impact assessed?
1. Additionality
An essential trait for the quality of carbon removal credits — a project is additional if its existence is due to the funding from carbon credits.
For example, Direct Air Capture has high additionality, since its existence would not have come about otherwise if it wasn’t for the incentive created by carbon credits.
2. Permanence
Carbon removal projects reduce climate change by removing atmospheric CO₂, storing it in reservoirs, and preventing it from being re-emitted. The more permanent removal is, the longer it keeps carbon locked away in reservoirs.
Forestation projects have short-term permanence (<50 years) whereas biochar has medium to long-term permanence (+100 years).
3. Effectiveness
To effectively sequester and store carbon, the energy, land and water consumption of carbon removal projects must be as low as possible.
4. Rapidity
The time period between emissions occurring and carbon removal projects sequestering those emissions (in various reservoirs) affects how much emissions contribute to climate change. Faster reductions mean less warming from CO₂.