Additionality, permanence, buffer pool: anatomy of a high-integrity credit

All carbon credits display the same unit — one tonne of CO₂ — but they are not all equal. Behind the figure, it is the project's architecture that makes the difference between a credible climate asset and a mere promise. Here are the four foundations of a high-integrity credit.

1. Additionality: the question that comes before all others

A project is additional if the sequestration would not have happened without the carbon revenue. This is the fundamental test: if the forest would have been planted anyway, the credit funds nothing new. Demanding standards require documented proof: counterfactual financial analysis, barrier analysis, examination of common practice.

2. Permanence: thirty years, not three

Sequestered carbon is only a climate gain if it stays stored. A fire, a clear-cut, a disease can release in a few weeks the carbon accumulated over decades. Serious projects address this through a long-term commitment, active risk management, and the buffer pool.

3. The buffer pool: forest carbon's collective insurance

The buffer pool is a reserve of non-tradable credits, fed by a percentage of each project's credits (often 10 to 30%). If a reversal occurs, credits from the buffer are cancelled to compensate for the released carbon. It is a mechanism for pooling risk at the level of the standard.

4. MRV and independent audit: proof, not declaration

The MRV system — Monitoring, Reporting, Verification — ensures that every claimed tonne has been measured: remote sensing, ground plots, modelling. Then an independent third-party auditor (accredited VVB) validates before any issuance. Finally, each credit receives a unique serial number on a public registry.

A high-integrity credit is a complete chain: demonstrated additionality, organised permanence, pooled risk, verified measurement, public traceability. Remove one link, and all that's left is a promise.