Additionality

A carbon removal project is deemed additional if it creates an impact that would not have  occurred in the absence of the project’s operations. If a project is additional, it means that more carbon is removed than would have otherwise occurred in a baseline scenario.

Afforestation

Afforestation is the process of planting trees or vegetation in an area where there was no previous forest cover.

Agroforestry

Agroforestry is a synergistic approach that combines agriculture and forestry to create more sustainable and productive land-use systems. By integrating trees with crops and livestock, agroforestry enhances carbon sequestration, supports biodiversity, and improves soil health. This method aligns agricultural productivity with environmental sustainability.

Allocation

Allocation is used as the “link” between asset(s) in a Demand Order and a Supply Order. Allocation can only be done when contracts are signed on both supply side and demand side, and is considered completion of the klimate service. Read more about understanding revenue.

Artisanal Biochar

Artisanal biochar is a carbon rich substance that is produced when materials like agricultural residues are heated in a process called pyrolysis. The artisanal biochar process uses small-scale, often traditional methods accessible to rural communities.

Asset (Impact definition)

A carbon asset is a unit of carbon dioxide represented by a digital entity (a credit) removed from the atmosphere and stored in a medium, backed by a physical substance (physical carbon and physical unit). Its removal is additional—meaning it would not have occurred without the project—verified and validated through robust third-party methodologies, and traceable throughout its entire lifecycle.

Avoidance Credits

These are credits that are based on projects that avoid or prevent potential carbon emitting activities from occurring.

Bio-oil

By heating up biomass to extremely high temperatures without oxygen, carbon is locked up in bio-oil. This carbon-rich material is the stored away underground.

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)

BECCS involves the combustion of biomass to create carbon-neutral bioenergy and the subsequent capture of the CO₂ produced. The CO₂ is then permanently stored in underground formations.

Blue Carbon

Blue carbon is the carbon stored in coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrass meadows, tidal marshes, and shellfish reefs. Carbon is stored in plant biomass and the associated soils and sediments of these ecosystems.

Certification

Different national and international standards exist across methodologies beyond our own and those conducted internally by projects. These bodies have well-defined processes which verify and audit projects for its traceability, methodologies, and compliance. Thus, adding another important layer of checks and balances.

Climate Impact

Climate impact is the concrete scientific basis of a project that evaluates the permanence, rapidity, additionality, and effectiveness of carbon removal projects to determine the impact they have on climate change.

Co-benefits

A co-benefit is any additional benefit that the project creates apart from its carbon removal, for example, restoring habitat for native biodiversity, enhancing soil health, and/or improving community well-being. This guarantees that carbon removal is an industry that helps mitigate various pressing challenges beyond climate.

Credit cancellation

The credit is permanently removed from circulation — but not for the purpose of a carbon claim.

Credit delivery

The credit is transferred from the project developer (or intermediary) to the buyer’s account.

Credit issuance

A carbon removal credit is created and placed on a registry after a project’s removals have been verified.

Credit pricing

Different types of projects and technologies have different ways of issuing, delivering, and contracting credits. These various differences are also often reflected in the credit’s price. For example, ex-ante credits are based on a predicted future removal and involve higher risk, while ex-post credits are based on verified removals that have already occurred.

Credit retirement

The credit is permanently removed from circulation on the registry so it cannot be resold.

Credit, Carbon Credit, or CDR credit

A unit for removing 1 metric tonne of CO₂e from the atmosphere.

Direct Air Capture (DAC)

Direct Air Capture uses large fan-like machines to pull CO₂ directly out of the atmosphere. Captured CO₂ can either be stored permanently in rock formations underneath the earth’s surface or reused for other materials.

Durability

The durability is a measure of how many years the carbon remains stored. This depends on where and how the carbon is removed and what type of measures are in place to ensure it’s storage post project completion.

Effectiveness

Effectiveness examines the project’s operational emissions and resource consumption relative to the amount of carbon it removes.

Enhanced rock weathering

Enhanced rock weathering is a carbon dioxide removal strategy that involves spreading finely ground silicate rocks, such as basalt, over land to accelerate natural chemical weathering processes. This reaction captures atmospheric CO₂ and converts it into stable bicarbonates, which eventually wash into oceans, helping to reduce global carbon levels.

Environmental co-benefits

There are many synergies between projects and many aspects of the environment, such as, biodiversity, ecosystem habitat, resource quality, and climate resilience. However, strong protections against environmental harms are essential for a high-quality project to consider.

Ex ante credits

Ex-ante credits represent anticipated carbon removal activities, i.e these are removal activities that will occur in the future or has not yet been verified, and it will be issued over the project’s lifetime.

Ex post credits

Ex post credits represent carbon removal activities that have already been removed, stored, and verified.

Industrial Biochar

Biochar is a charcoal-looking, carbon-rich substance that is produced when organic materials are subjected to a process called pyrolysis. Industrial biochar utilises modern engineering to efficiently produce high-quality biochar in large quantities, offering a scalable and impactful approach to climate change mitigation.

Integrity

Integrity analyses the carbon accounting, certification standards, and verification procedures of carbon removal projects to ensure they are sound and credible.

Microbial Carbon Mineralisation

Microbial carbon mineralisation (MCM) is a geochemical carbon removal method that involves adding microorganisms to agricultural fields to accelerate the conversion of atmospheric CO₂ into stable mineral carbonates for long periods of time.

Monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV)

This is the continual measurement of progress towards the project’s benefits. This includes the carbon being removed, associated co-benefits, and the project’s impact on the environment. It ensures the quality of integrity associated with the impact of investment.

Nature-Based Solution (NBS)

Nature-based solutions describe the development and use of nature and natural processes to address diverse socio-environmental issues. Specific to the the carbon removal industry, these are carbon removal solutions, e.g. reforestation, that use nature or natural ecosystems to capture and store carbon.

Permanence

Permanence is the over-arching metric that determines how long the carbon remains stored in its respective reservoir. The permanence of a removal is determined by its durability in its particular storage and the potential risk of it being re-emitted. The greater the permanence of a removal and the lower the risk of it being re-emitted, the longer the carbon stays locked away.

Project capacity and maturity

Critical to our common climate goals is scaling carbon removal. Thus, it is important to analyse the scale and scope, as well as a project’s ability and limits to growth.

Reduction credits

These are credits that are based on projects that reduce the generation of greenhouse gas emissions compared to prior practices.

Reforestation

Reforestation involves replanting or naturally regenerating trees in areas that have been previously affected by natural disasters such as wildfires or droughts, as well as man-made disturbances like logging, mining, and agricultural clearing.

Risk / mitigation

Knowing the project’s risks and its associated mitigation measures that could affect its operations is vital to ensuring the safety and reliability of the carbon storage.

SDGs

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action. Acknowledging that climate change needs to be addressed beyond carbon removal, the projects are assessed by its contribution and synergies towards the Sustainable Development goals.

Social co-benefits

Beyond carbon, socially positive impacts can can include job creation, increased welfare, or capacity building for community well-being. However, there are social harms such as displacement that must safeguarded against.

Soil Sequestration

Soil sequestration for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric CO₂ in soil organic matter through practices like cover cropping and reduced tillage. These methods enhance soil carbon storage and improve soil health.

tCO₂e

Tonnes (not tons) of carbon dioxide equivalent converts the climate impact of gases like methane into the equivalent amount of CO2 that would cause the same amount of warming.

All credits are denominated in CO₂e.

Removal credits usually represent CO₂ removals specifically, but are standardised as 1 tonne CO₂e removed so they can be used in corporate carbon accounting.

Technology Readiness Level

Technology readiness levels (TRLs) are a method for estimating the maturity of technologies during the acquisition phase of a program. TRLs enable consistent and uniform discussions of technical maturity across different types of technology.

Vintage

Vintage refers to the year (or period) in which the carbon removal and storage took place and was verified, meaning when the credit was issued by the corresponding standard and listed on the registry.

Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM)

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is where carbon credits are traded on a voluntary basis, not under any regulatory compulsion. In this market, companies, governments, or individuals purchase carbon credits to offset their carbon emissions, contributing to their climate commitments or corporate social responsibility goals.The VCM has been growing in response to increasing awareness of climate issues and the drive towards net-zero emissions.