IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v13y2023i11d10.1038_s41558-023-01815-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Realizing the social value of impermanent carbon credits

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Balmford

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

  • Srinivasan Keshav

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

  • Frank Venmans

    (London School of Economics)

  • David Coomes

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

  • Ben Groom

    (London School of Economics
    University of Exeter Business School)

  • Anil Madhavapeddy

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

  • Tom Swinfield

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Efforts to avert dangerous climate change by conserving and restoring natural habitats are hampered by concerns over the credibility of methods used to quantify their long-term impacts. Here we develop a flexible framework for estimating the net social benefit of impermanent nature-based interventions that integrates three substantial advances: (1) conceptualizing the permanence of a project’s impact as its additionality over time; (2) risk-averse estimation of the social cost of future reversals of carbon gains; and (3) post-credit monitoring to correct errors in deliberately pessimistic release forecasts. Our framework generates incentives for safeguarding already credited carbon while enabling would-be investors to make like-for-like comparisons of diverse carbon projects. Preliminary analyses suggest nature-derived credits may be competitively priced even after adjusting for impermanence.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Balmford & Srinivasan Keshav & Frank Venmans & David Coomes & Ben Groom & Anil Madhavapeddy & Tom Swinfield, 2023. "Realizing the social value of impermanent carbon credits," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 13(11), pages 1172-1178, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:13:y:2023:i:11:d:10.1038_s41558-023-01815-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01815-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01815-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-023-01815-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Estelle Cantillon & Aurélie Slechten, 2023. "Market Design for the Environment," NBER Chapters, in: New Directions in Market Design, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:13:y:2023:i:11:d:10.1038_s41558-023-01815-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.