Advancing effective and equitable crediting of natural climate solutions

Natural climate solutions, or NCS, are activities to protect, restore, or enhance ecosystems in terms of their ability to remove or sequester carbon. They can deliver about one third of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed this decade to achieve key climate goals. Implemented well, they also provide benefits for people and nature. Crediting of NCS mitigation is a powerful way to unlock this potential–but it is also controversial. The global conversation among actors with diverse views on this new and rapidly evolving topic can be challenging to follow.

High-integrity NCS crediting has the potential to equitably enhance global climate mitigation efforts at the ambitious scale needed to meet the urgent climate challenge. The NCS Crediting Handbook and Briefing Series will guide readers through the main considerations necessary to unlock this potential.

Explore the NCS Crediting Handbook

By clarifying essential terms and concepts underpinning NCS carbon crediting, highlighting solutions to technical challenges, and providing informed framing to help newcomers understand prominent ongoing debates, the NCS Crediting Handbook and Briefing Series seeks to provide the reader with a clear introduction to the world of NCS crediting, and an impartial, accessible guide to support their decision making.

Crediting briefing series

The NCS Briefing Series covers key issues involved in using NCS crediting as a climate change mitigation tool. The briefs take a deeper, more technical look at certain topics referenced in the Handbook, including achieving large-scale high-integrity crediting; ensuring equity as credits are created, traded and used; facilitating and governing trades; and financing the mitigation activities that underlie the credits. The briefs in the series are being published on an ongoing basis, so please check back, or sign up, for future updates.

Advancing Effective and Equitable Crediting for Natural Climate Solutions: An Introduction

This introductory briefing explains NCS crediting fundamentals, while acknowledging and framing central misconceptions and complexities within the NCS crediting space. Read the paper and related blog.
Mitigating Credit Transaction Risk Through Contract Design

This briefing note discusses the specific design of NCS carbon credit agreements with a focus on identifying risks embedded in these transactions and opportunities for managing those risks. Read the paper.
Equity Considerations on the Demand Side of NCS Crediting

This briefing note focuses on the equity considerations around the use of carbon credits generated through NCS for compliance with regulatory obligations or to meet voluntary commitments (i.e., demand side). Read the paper and related blog.