What Are Carbon Offsets Co-Benefits (And Why Should They Matter to Your Organization?)

Climate change has become a top business priority. But your company might have other environment-related issues in mind when it invests in carbon credits.

For example, you might want to back developers who promote sustainable development of communities. Or support projects that produce environmental benefits besides better air quality.

Co-benefits add extra value to carbon projects and help align multiple goals with the right investment. 

So how do co-benefits work?

What are co-benefits? 

Co-benefits are additional benefits that go beyond removing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), such as positively impacting communities and biodiversity conservation.

It's important to note that not every carbon project offers the same types or levels of co-benefits.

For instance, a REDD+ project that aims to protect a forest from deforestation could result in job creation in the area and also protect local biodiversity. Whereas a direct air capture (DAC) project would create a few jobs but would not have wider ecological benefits.

Measuring the quality and impact of carbon credits

There are many things to consider when investing in the voluntary carbon market. Yes, you need to make sure the carbon credits you purchase are high-quality. But you should also pay attention to co-benefits, such as a project's impact on local communities and biodiversity.

Remember, not all projects are well designed. Just as a low-quality offset can have a detrimental effect on the environment, poorly designed co-benefits can do more harm than good.

Future frameworks could also influence how co-benefits are measured.

Currently, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures' (TCFD) recommendations are being codified by many financial regulators, including ones in the US and UK.

If the Task Force for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) were to recommend a similar model, then businesses would have to publicly disclose their impacts on nature and biodiversity. As a result, corporations that invested in carbon offsets with poor co-benefits would invite public scrutiny. 

It's not just about carbon footprints and climate change

At Sylvera, we evaluate projects based on carbon emissions. But we also consider each project's impact on community and biodiversity. These co-benefits are scored on the following factors:

We then aggregate these results into an overall ratings score from one to five:

• 5/5 indicates exceptional progression on targeted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as extraordinary species richness and high-quality activities to reduce pressure on biodiversity
• 1/5 indicates very limited progression on targeted SDGs, very low species richness, and a lack of activities to reduce pressure on biodiversity. 

Co-benefits are not part of Sylvera's overall rating for a project, since the primary objective of our rating is to evaluate the project claims of GHGs being avoided or removed.

A high co-benefits score could inflate a rating, which would be an issue—particularly when a project is underperforming in other key areas: carbon sequestration, emissions reduction, project additionality and permanence, etc. (Learn more about our Rating System.)

Nonetheless, we're committed to assessing the impact of co-benefits because it provides a holistic view of a project. Not only does the Sylvera assessment help organizations identify high-quality offsets, but it also helps them understand the benefits such projects bring to local communities and biodiversity.

Co-benefits related to local communities

We measure community co-benefits using the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

For every project, we identify which SDGs it best aligns to. A number of well designed nature-based projects are developed with SDGs, which our framework confirms and checks.

In addition, we also enable SDG/community impact to be compared across projects. This enables organizations to search for projects by specific SDGs and select ones that align with the wider environmental and social impact they want to have.

We rate co-benefits on the scope, design, and implementation of project activities that contribute to people-related UN SDGs. Said impact is then compared to progress at local, regional, and national levels. A similar assessment is undertaken to understand the threats to biodiversity in the project area, and the impact of protective schemes implemented by the project. Speaking of which...

Co-benefits related to biodiversity 

Assessing and monitoring biodiversity is more difficult than carbon as it requires regular, detailed data from on the ground. Collecting said data can be an extensive, costly process.

However, through our partnership with the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT), the world's most authoritative source of biodiversity data, we have access to vital biodiversity data that we incorporate to our carbon project analyses. This data includes: 

• Species and habitat diversity
• Monitoring tools in place in the area
• Information on income diversification or improved agriculture to reduce pressure on biodiversity
• Regional and national threats to biodiversity

Choose carbon offset projects that align with multiple goals

Corporate buyers and investors should want to invest in carbon projects that tackle multiple sustainability issues. Yes, you care about carbon reduction and avoidance. But project co-benefits that improve community and support biodiversity conservation as also valuable.

Of course, you only gain access to these benefits when the credit is high quality and can meet the claims set out by the project. Low quality credits have too many negative elements.  

There are a number of factors that impact co-benefits and the quality of a carbon credit project. By conducting the proper due diligence, there is scope to invest in high-quality nature-based credits that aligns with your organization's carbon neutrality or net zero goals. Just as important, high-quality nature-based credits also offer the potential to address other global issues.