Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon ... - FAO

Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon markets
4.1.4 Methodology application
Once the decision has been made to go ahead with the project, a
suitable methodology has to be found or (if one is not available) be
developed. Methodologies give exact procedures for quantifying the
real GHG benefits of a forestry VCM project, including descriptions and
instructions on:
• How to establish project
boundaries both on the
ground and in time;
• Which carbon pools and
greenhouse gases should
be included in calculating
the benefits of the
project;
• Assessment of
additionality and
selection procedures for the most likely baseline scenario;
• Procedures to quantify the baseline scenario, the project
scenario and leakage;
• Calculation of the net reduction/removal of GHG emissions;
and
• The monitoring approach.
Due to new developments,
methodologies can often be
revised or even withdrawn.
Ensure that you are always
up-to-date with the latest
information: consult the
website of the standard you
wish to use!
The methodology describes how net carbon benefits are to be
determined; implementing the methodology for a specific location leads
to the actual, quantified net carbon benefits.
Existing templates, such as those from the VCS, are helpful because they
help to ensure that project developers provide all required information.
If a project developer wants to register a new methodology with a
108