Information on voluntary carbon markets and the participation of the Republic of Moldova in them is also available in the category
General Principles of Standards for the Voluntary Carbon Market
Climate projects are a set of measures aimed at reducing (preventing) greenhouse gas emissions and/or increasing the absorption of these gases. The result of climate projects is the quantification of emissions reductions in tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which are called carbon credits.
General principles for the implementation of climate projects for voluntary carbon markets:
- Additionality implies that the project contributes to the reduction (prevention) of greenhouse gas emissions or the absorption of a larger volume of greenhouse gases than in a scenario without the project, and requires evidence that the project would not have been implemented without the additional financial resources of the carbon market.
- Permanence indicates the need to prevent the return of emissions to the atmosphere after the project is completed.
- Avoidance of double counting implies that the movement of carbon units is carefully controlled.
- Leakage prevention means that the implementation of the project should not lead to the displacement of emission sources to other regions.
The process of implementing climate projects and issuing carbon credits under voluntary standards includes the following stages:
- Description of the project idea, including its methodology, baseline plan, effects and risks, as well as a strategy for interacting with stakeholders.
- Project design, describing the baseline conditions, monitoring methodology and plans for assessing climate and other benefits.
- Validation of the project design by independent parties to confirm compliance with rules and requirements.
- Project registration as a climate project based on positive validation results.
- Verification conducted by a third party to assess the impact of the project and the amount of emission reductions.
- Issuance of carbon credits to the registry and continuation of the verification process until the end of the project life cycle.
Carbon credits are used by companies:
- To meet voluntarily set emission reduction targets
- To mitigate climate change beyond the supply chain
- To reduce the carbon footprint of products or services
- To fulfill obligations in industry initiatives (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) and national carbon systems (Singapore carbon tax).
To streamline the activities of voluntary carbon standards and the circulation of the carbon units they issue, various initiatives have been created:
- The Core Carbon Principles as a global assessment system for high-quality carbon units were developed by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
- Claims Code of Practice from the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) helps companies choose high-quality carbon units, accurately report on their use and avoid greenwashing.
- The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) defines requirements for companies to set targets for achieving carbon neutrality.
- Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) from SBTi recommends that companies carry out activities aimed at reducing emissions or increasing the absorption of greenhouse gases without directly affecting their Scope 1, 2 or 3 emissions.
- Carbon credit tokenization.
Climate projects on voluntary standards in Moldova
Currently, a number of climate projects in the field of sustainable (regenerative) agriculture are being implemented in Moldova under the Agreena program. This program covers 18 European countries and plans to register the entire volume of its climate projects in the Verified Carbon Standard. More information about Agreena can be found in the article at the link.