Additionality
The question of whether a credited outcome would have happened without the incentive from carbon-credit revenue.
Learning Hub
08Carbon credits glossary
Terms worth slowing down for.
Baseline
A counterfactual reference used to estimate what would occur without a proposed activity.
Carbon credit
A defined unit associated with a quantified greenhouse-gas outcome under a relevant program or mechanism.
Carbon offset
A term commonly used for the use of a credit in relation to emissions from another activity.
Double counting
A risk that an emissions outcome is issued, used, or claimed more than once.
Leakage
The risk that a change associated with an activity shifts emissions outside the assessed boundary rather than preventing them overall.
Methodology
The defined rules, assumptions, data, and calculation approach used to quantify an outcome under a program.
Permanence
The question of how long an intended emissions outcome is expected to endure and how reversals are addressed.
Registry
A system used to identify, issue, track, transfer, and retire units under a relevant program.
Vintage
The period or date associated with the emissions outcome represented by an issued unit; it is context, not a standalone quality conclusion.