Leakage
The unintentional increase of emissions elsewhere due to a carbon reduction or removal project.
What is Leakage?
In the context of carbon projects, leakage refers to the phenomenon where actions taken to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions in one area inadvertently lead to an increase in emissions elsewhere. For example, protecting a forest in one region might displace logging activities to an unprotected area, leading to deforestation and emissions there.
Why is Leakage important?
Leakage is important because it can undermine the effectiveness and overall climate benefit of carbon projects. If leakage is not accounted for and mitigated, a project that appears to reduce emissions might simply shift them geographically, resulting in little or no net reduction in global emissions.
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Frequently asked questions
In forestry projects, leakage can occur if, for example, protecting a forest for carbon sequestration displaces agricultural or logging activities to other, previously unthreatened forest areas, leading to new deforestation there.
Leakage can be minimized through careful project design, broad jurisdictional approaches, and considering socio-economic factors that might drive displacement. Accounting for it often involves estimating potential leakage rates and adjusting credited carbon removal accordingly.
No, leakage is relevant for both emissions reduction and carbon removal projects. Any project aiming to reduce emissions or enhance sinks in one place needs to consider potential displacement of activities to other locations.