GHG Project Additionality

Definition

GHG Project Additionality is a concept relevant in distinguishing a GHG Project Activity from its GHG Baseline Scenario

The difficulty is that many projects that reduce GHG Emissions (relative to historical levels) would happen regardless of the existence of a GHG program and without any concern for climate change mitigation. If a project “would have happened anyway,” then issuing offset credits for its GHG reductions will actually allow a positive net increase in GHG emissions, undermining the emissions target of the GHG program.

Whatever methods are used to address additionality, a GHG Program must decide how stringent to make its additionality rules and criteria based on its policy objectives:

• Under the project-specific approach, stringency is determined by the weight of evidence required to identify a particular baseline scenario (and possibly to pass any required additionality tests).
• Under the performance-standard approach, stringency is determined by how low the performance standard GHG emission rate is relative to the average GHG emission rate of similar practices or technologies.

Examples

• Replacing old combustion engines with newer generations