Improving LULUCF Offset Projects: A Carbon Performance Standard and Ecosystem Services.

The performance standard procedure, a quantitative method for quantifying baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or removals, provides an alternative approach to the project-by-project methods currently being used in most GHG offset programs. By providing a top-down approach to assessing the three main technical offset accounting elements (setting the baseline, identifying leakage, and monitoring), this approach has the advantage of providing a broader analytical framework for addressing the issues and the ability to focus project developers in areas where such issues can be addressed more comprehensively. In addition, this top-down approach gives the performance standard developer the opportunity to consider the ecosystem services and human impacts in the analysis of where and what types of forestry projects should occur within a geographic area. Although further field study is required to understand the full implementation considerations involved, this procedure has the potential to help reduce some of the current reasons identified for the slow development of forest carbon offset projects to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]