ncx-gitbot
commented
1 year ago NCX response: We agree that additionality is key for any carbon project to work, whether 1 year or 100 years. That is why we rigorously measure additionality in our program and transparently share the results of all project cycles. No nature-based solutions are permanent. However, in this critical decade increasing sequestration and storage is critical to meet global goals. Therefore, we are incentivizing immediate action when it counts. When tonne-year accounting is combined with ex post crediting, climate impact is delivered immediately and cannot be reversed. Acknowledging and designing for temporary storage using tonne-year accounting and short-term crediting provides accountability when fires, pests, and climate change itself make long-term forest predictions near impossible.
Commenter Organization: Carbon Solutions Lead, Pachama Inc.
Commenter: Cindy Chiang
2021 Deferred Harvest Methodology Section: No Section Indicated
Comment: Delayed emissions are not emissions reductions. Short-term carbon storage merely delays climate change. At bottom, the motivating economic principle is to kick the can down the road until, in some unspecified future, fossil fuel alternatives decarbonize the economy. If damages are reversible, delaying them produces real benefit (i.e. time value of money). With compounding interest, I can rectify $X of damages in the future by holding less than $X aside today. However, carbon impacts (e.g., glacial melt, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, species extinction) are generally irreversible. In short, delayed storage produces a theoretical economic benefit under very specific assumptions, but does NOT produce an actual physical, climate benefit.
Proposed Change: No Proposed Change