The concept of additionality is a crucial aspect in ensuring the effectiveness and integrity of carbon removal and offset projects. It refers to the requirement that a project or activity must generate emissions reductions or increased carbon sequestration that are additional to what would have occurred without the project.
In the podcast episodes, the concept of additionality is discussed as a key consideration in evaluating the quality and impact of various carbon removal and forestry credit initiatives. Episode #108278 highlights additionality as a central part of the quality criteria that the Symbiosis Coalition is aiming to uphold in their carbon removal purchases. Similarly, Episode #53974 examines the challenges of accurately measuring additionality in 'clean' hydrogen production to ensure the effective implementation of tax credits. The episodes Reforestation and Climate Accounting and Creating a Marketplace to Remove Carbon from the Atmosphere both discuss additionality in the context of carbon offsets and carbon removal projects.
Establishing robust additionality criteria is critical to avoiding the risk of financing projects that would have happened anyway, thus ensuring that carbon removal and offset activities genuinely contribute to emissions reductions and climate change mitigation.