Lesson 1, Topic 1
In Progress

Integrity

INTEGRITY MATTERS

The UN High‑Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non‑State Entities (2022), outlines 5 key integrity principles for these commitments: 

  • Level of ambition: commitments should aim to deliver significant near and medium-term emissions reductions on a path to global net zero emissions by 2050 and net zero emissions soon after. 
  • Demonstrated integrity by aligning commitments with actions and investments. 
  • Radical transparency in sharing relevant, non-competitive, comparable data on plans and progress. 
  • Established credibility through plans based on science and third-party verification. 
  • Demonstrable commitment to both equity and justice in all actions. 

In addition, the Committee made several recommendations on how to put these principles into practice. In the use of Voluntary Credits, it is important to consider the following: 

“Non‑state actors must prioritize urgent and deep reduction of emissions across their value chain. High integrity carbon credits in voluntary markets should be used for beyond value chain mitigation but cannot be counted toward a non‑state actor’s interim emissions reductions required by its net zero pathway.” 

In the next topic, we will investigate the role of Additionality in upholding environmental integrity. And, later in lesson 3, we will investigate in greater detail the guidelines under development for the supply and demand side as those can have an impact on the work of Project Developers. 

  • Carbon markets are an instrument that solves the market failure of climate change. 
  • Carbon markets allow actors with high abatement costs to buy units from actors with lower abatement costs. As such, carbon markets help reduce the cost of climate action. 
  • Carbon markets bring together the demand and supply of carbon reduction or removal.
  • Crediting mechanisms are a type of carbon market with standards, methodologies, and registries allowing the issuance and trading of carbon credits in a transparent way. 

Figure 2.8. Representation of carbon market’s supply and demand sides.