This document provides guidance on the principles organisations should follow when making claims of undertaking voluntary action to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions outside the boundary of their organisation.
This document provides guidance on the principles organisations should follow when making claims of undertaking voluntary action to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions outside the boundary of their organisation.
Claims of undertaking voluntary climate change mitigation should only be made after an organisation has measured their own emissions, committed to an emissions reductions plan, and is taking action to reduce their emissions in accordance with their plan.
For claims of voluntary climate change mitigation to be considered credible the action must:
- be transparent, clearly stated, and publicly available
- be real, measurable and verified
- be additional to business-as-usual activity
- not be double used
- not result in leakage of emissions elsewhere
- be permanent.
Best practice for voluntary carbon markets internationally is evolving with the transition into the Paris Agreement era. The guidance is interim and will be reviewed to ensure it remains relevant for organisations in New Zealand undertaking voluntary climate change mitigation.
This guidance replaces the guidance published in August 2020, titled Guidance for voluntary emissions offsetting – updated and extended until 31 December 2021. This previous guidance has expired.