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Climate Neutral Design Principles:
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| Project type | New | Existing |
|---|---|---|
| Buildings | Energy Star definitions available for commercial buildings. Home Energy Rating System can be used for residential buildings. | Commercial buildings must achieve at least a 30% energy efficiency improvement or attain the applicable Energy Star level. Baselines need to be adjusted for changes in building usage. |
| Industry | Very process specific. Emerging benchmarks from Motor Challenge and Industries of the Future? Baselines need to be adjusted for changes in output. | Baselines need to be adjusted for changes in output. |
| Transportation | Needs further analysis. Benchmark could be "best in class" vehicle in a base year or improvement in company-average compared to a base year. CAFE credits would have to be retired. | |
| Utilities | Benchmark should be based on natural gas combined-cycle technology: 0.44 tons CO2/MWh | Company-wide improvements in emissions per MWh could be counted (against the declining baseline) as long as there is no double-counting with new facility credits. |
| Combined Heat & Power | Benchmark as above, except that sold or utilized steam output would be treated as additional generation at a rate of 1 MWh per 6.8 million Btu (based on 50% conversion efficiency) | |
| Forests | Reforestation and afforestation projects must be on land that has not had forest since 1990 (to avoid a perverse incentive for clearing and replanting). | |
N.B. — The following apply to New and Existing:
Must commit to long-term monitoring and offset adjustments for changes in carbon stocks until the area is incorporated into national inventories and commitments.
Allowable credit should be discounted in proportion to the measurement uncertainty.
Offset credits must be based on verified sequestration that has already occurred, not on projections.
The additional benefits attributable to a project should be determined by comparing carbon sequestration in the project area with sequestration in a suitable control area not subject to the project activities. The area used as a control should be in compliance with regulations and representative of standard practices. If no suitable control area can be identified a validated alternative method for determining the project baseline could be used if such method has been demonstrated to provide an equivalent level of certainty.
Project credits should be discounted for estimated emissions "leakage," including emissions associated with any displacement of the production of forest products to unprotected areas that would not otherwise have been harvested.