An overview of the four principles
Principle one: Cut emissions, ensure the environmental integrity of credits used to achieve net zero and regularly revise your offsetting strategy as best practice evolves.
This principle highlights the continued urgency to reduce emissions from within your own supply and value chains. Though not enough on their own, these measures will still form the core component of a credible net zero strategy. Like all decisions your organization makes, integrity is key when selecting carbon credits for a portfolio. This means confirming they’re accurately measured, reported, verified and accounted for — paying close attention to the risk of double counting — and that the emission reduction or carbon removal did in fact happen. Alongside integrity is the need for transparency. Tracking your credits closely will enable you to disclose current emissions, accounting and verification practices, and show transition plans and progress against targets.
Principle two: Transition to carbon removal offsetting for any residual emissions by the global net zero target date.
Credits associated with reducing or avoiding emissions play a short-term role in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. However, to achieve net zero emissions, you need credits that remove carbon from the atmosphere to counterbalance residual and historic emissions. It is important to design your portfolio to reflect the 2050 timescale and to gradually transition to 100% of purchases being on carbon removal projects. It is also important to look for high-quality carbon removal, for example a methodology that applies the principles of conservativeness, in order to ensure the integrity of your carbon credit portfolio.
Principle three: Shift to removals with durable storage (low risk of reversal) to compensate for residual emissions by the net zero target date.
Though all carbon removals need to be stored, not all methods are equal — with some having a higher risk of reversal and shorter permanence than others. These include afforestation and ecosystem restoration, though they do deliver biodiversity and adaptation co-benefits. Credits with moderate risk of reversal, such as certain nature-based removals, are valuable in the short and middle term, but credits with low risk of reversal and high, long-term durability, like BECCS and direct air capture and storage (DACS), are needed to achieve and maintain a net zero balance — and even potentially achieve net negative emissions.
Check out our infographic on comparing credit types here.
Principle four: Support the development of innovative and integrated approaches to achieving net zero.
The current market for durable, high-quality CDRs will need to expand significantly if we’re to achieve net zero by 2050. There are a variety of credible options available for carbon storage, but these need to scale further with incentives that encourage take up to increase availability and grow the market. Investing in CDR technologies early will create demand, which in turn will drive supply to accelerate its development. The Oxford Offsetting Principles include the following ways to be an early adopter to support this critical CDR market.