A buyer’s guide to high-accountability MRV

Introducing our early thinking and a tool to help

Image: eskay lim
  1. Direct Accounting of Removals and Impacts: The best MRV protocols measure all variables associated with the project including removals and impacts to human health and ecosystems.
  2. Traceability Over Time: After measuring the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere, monitoring stored carbon and ongoing health and ecosystem impacts is needed to establish durability and safety. Even after a project ends, impacts persist.
  3. Data Transparency: How project information is made available to stakeholders is just as important as measurement and monitoring of the initial collection of data. Without data transparency and accessibility, there is no accountability.
  4. Appropriate Incentive Structure: Verification of removals must take place within a financial incentive structure that minimizes fraud and maximizes public benefit.
Graphic: Maddie Mahoney, Carbon180
Graphic: Maddie Mahoney, Carbon180
  1. Emphasize accountability for communities and the public by working with suppliers to take the actions described in the MRV principles matrix,
  2. Select suppliers based on MRV quality, and continue pushing the boundary on expectations to incentivize continued innovation, and
  3. Openly acknowledge when choices are made to accept lower MRV certainty, in exchange for lower cost and complexity.

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Carbon180

A new breed of climate NGO on a mission to reverse two centuries of carbon emissions. Newsletters 👉 http://bit.ly/3gjXhgR