Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-13 (section)

==== 13.6.3.4 Offset Credits ====

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Offset credits are voluntary GHG emission reductions for which tradable credits are issued by a supervisory body ( [[#Michaelowa--2019b|Michaelowa et al. 2019b]] ). a buyer can use purchased credits to offset an equal quantity of its emissions. In a voluntary market governments, firms and individuals purchase credits to offset emissions generated by their actions, such as air travel. a compliance market al.ows specified offset credits to be used for compliance with mitigation policies, especially ETSs, carbon taxes and low-carbon fuel standards. ( [[#Newell--2013|Newell et al. 2013]] ; [[#Bento--2016|Bento et al. 2016]] ; [[#Michaelowa--2019a|Michaelowa et al. 2019a]] ).

When used for compliance, governments typically specify a maximum quantity of offset credits that can be used, as well as the types of emission reduction actions, the project start dates and the geographic regions eligible credits. Initially, the EU ETS, Swiss ETS and New Zealand ETS accepted credits issued under the Kyoto Protocol (Chapter 14), but they terminated or severely constrained the quantity of international credits allowed for compliance use after 2014 ( [[#Shishlov--2016|Shishlov et al. 2016]] ) ( [[#13.6.6|Section 13.6.6]] ).

A key question for any offset credit is whether the emission reductions are ‘additional’: reductions that only happen because of the offset credit payment ( [[#Greiner--2003|Greiner and Michaelowa 2003]] ; [[#Millard-Ball--2010|Millard-Ball and Ortolano 2010]] ; [[#van%20Benthem--2013|van Benthem and Kerr 2013]] ; [[#Burke--2016|Burke 2016]] ; [[#Bento--2016|Bento et al. 2016]] ). To assess additionality and to determine the quantity of credits to be issued, regulators develop methodologies to estimate baseline (business-as-usual) emissions in the absence of offset payments ( [[#Newell--2013|Newell et al. 2013]] ; [[#Bento--2016|Bento et al. 2016]] ). Credits are issued for the difference between the baseline and actual emissions with adjustments for possible emissions increases outside the project boundary ( [[#Rosendahl--2011|Rosendahl and Strand 2011]] ). Some research suggests that procedural and measurement advances can significantly reduce the risk of severe non-additionality ( [[#Mason--2013|Mason and Plantinga 2013]] ; [[#Bento--2016|Bento et al. 2016]] ; [[#Michaelowa--2019a|Michaelowa et al. 2019a]] ).

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