The Role of Offsets in Emissions Trading Systems: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

After a turbulent decade for the carbon market, interest in offset credits has recently surged as a compliance option for emitters in carbon pricing systems. In this webinar session, the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) presented its latest report “Offset Use Across Emissions Trading Systems”, followed by a discussion with an expert panel drawn from policy making, offset project origination, and an offset crediting standard. Questions discussed included the role that offsets can play in carbon pricing instruments, the benefits and risks of their use, policy solutions to maintain the integrity of the emissions trading system, and implications of offset use for the market for emission allowances.

ICAP kicked-off the webinar by presenting the findings from its recently published report exploring offset inclusion in ETS, followed by discussion from an expert panel including: Sergi Cuadrat, Vice President of Climate Action at ALLCOT; Shelby Livingston, Manager of the Cap-and-Trade Offset Program at the California Air Resources Board; and Hugh Salway, Senior Director, Market Development and Partnerships at the Gold Standard Foundation. The session was moderated by Jonathan Gardiner, Ecologic Institute.

Presentation slides are available for download:

Maia Hall, ICAP: "Offset use across Emissions Trading Systems"

Sergi Cuadrat, ALLCOT: "Insights from the perspective of a project developer"

This webinar is part of the ETS for Policy Practitioners webinar series, hosted by the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) with support from the European Commission.