Establishing a baseline
If project participants can provide evidence that no significant changes in carbon stocks would have occurred within the project boundary in the absence of the project activity, then the existing carbon stocks (prior to implementation) will be taken to be the baseline:
If project participants can provide relevant information that indicates that, in the absence of the small-scale afforestation or reforestation project activity under the CDM, no significant changes in the carbon stocks within the project boundary would have occurred, they shall assess the existing carbon stocks prior to the implementation of the project activity. The existing carbon stocks shall be considered as the baseline and shall be assumed to be constant throughout the crediting period (6/CMP.1, Annex, Appendix B, paragraph 2).
However, if significant changes would have occurred, an alternative baseline must be used. Project participants are entitled to use the simplified baselines set out in the baseline methodologies created under 6/CMP.1, Annex, Appendix B:
If significant changes in the carbon stocks within the project boundary would be expected to occur in the absence of the small-scale afforestation or reforestation project activity, project participants shall use simplified baseline methodologies to be developed by the Executive Board (6/CMP.1, Annex, Appendix B, paragraph 3).
The following GHG emissions sources may be neglected in A/R baseline and monitoring methodologies:
a. Fossil fuel combustion in A/R CDM project activities;
b. Collection of wood from non-renewable sources to be used for fencing of the project area; and
c. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from decomposition of litter and fine roots from N-fixing trees. (EB 44, paragraph 37)
Baseline methodologies have been developed for 4 SSC A/R project types:
The Executive Board shall develop simplified baseline methodologies for the following types of small-scale afforestation or reforestation project activities:
- Grassland to forested land
- Cropland to forested land
- Wetland to forested land
- Settlement to forested land (6/CMP.1, Annex, Appendix B).
These are available online.
A baseline for a small-scale project is considered to be accurate if it uses one of these baselines:
A baseline shall be deemed to reasonably represent the sum of the changes in carbon stocks in the carbon pools within the project boundary that would occur in the absence of the proposed small-scale afforestation or reforestation project activity under the CDM if it is derived using a baseline methodology referred to in appendix B (6/CMP.1, Annex, paragraph 19).
The Executive Board has also developed default factors for use in these methodologies. Project participants may use the default factors or project-specific factors, provided they reflect good practice:
The Executive Board shall consider the types referred to in paragraph 4 above and develop, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP) at its first session, default factors for assessing the existing carbon stocks and for simplified baseline methodologies, taking into account, if appropriate, types of soils, lifetime of the project and climatic conditions. Project participants may use either the default factors or project specific methods, provided they reflect good practice appropriate to the type of the project activity (6/CMP.1, Annex, Appendix D, paragraph 5).