Protecting one of the last pristine forests in Europe

Romania, Hunedoara

ClimatePartner ID: 1409

Project details

In the field

Project impact

Project facts

Quality criteria

Improved Forest Management (IFM)Get to know the project

The regional practice of clearcut logging, patch cutting and comparable regional practices hurt the ecosystem of the the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Our carbon offset project helps preserve biodiversity and the natural heritage by supporting the management of protected areas.

Covering 1,556 hectares in the Retezat mountain range, this project achieves greenhouse gas emission reductions by avoiding the release of carbon associated with timber harvesting, road building and other forestry operations. Conservation management activities for ecosystem protection and habitat enhancement are also in place, thus benefiting biodiversity and helping sustain a healthy and functional forest ecosystem.

5,638 t CO₂Estimated annual emissions reductions

Project Standard

The project contributes to the the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

Improved forest management for climate action and biodiversity

Forests are true superheroes: they prevent desertification, purify water and air, store carbon, and are an important habitat to roughly 50 percent of all animal and plant species. Forests also play a key role in the fight against the climate crisis. Around 15 percent of global CO₂ emissions result from deforestation, making forest protection one of the most cost-effective solutions to mitigate climate change.

Improved Forest Management (IFM) aims to increase the forest's capacity to store carbon, conserve the forest and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.

Depending on the project, different IFM measures are implemented:

Extended rotation: Increasing the time between harvest cycles allows trees to grow larger, accumulate more biomass, and store more carbon.
Reduced-impact logging: Selective removal of individual trees preserves the forest structure, and promotes natural regeneration.
Build-up of timber stock: Less wood is harvested than naturally grows back, resulting in a continuous increase of forest biomass.
Forest reserve: In natural forest reserves, all logging activities are entirely prohibited within a designated area. This significantly increases biomass and promotes high biodiversity.

The project aims to contribute to these United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Project facts

Climate projects generally fall into one of three groups: carbon reduction, carbon removal, or carbon avoidance. Carbon reduction projects reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a specific activity (e.g., improved cookstoves). Carbon removal projects remove carbon from the atmosphere by sequestering it in carbon sinks (e.g., reforestation). Carbon avoidance projects avoid greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere (e.g., protecting forests from deforestation with REDD+ projects).

All climate projects are based on international standards. They set processes and requirements which carbon projects must fulfill to be recognised as a proven method of reducing carbon emissions.

Climate projects demonstrably reduce, remove, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. This is achieved with various technologies, ranging from nature-based solutions to social impact projects and renewable energies.

Most standards on the voluntary carbon market list their projects in public registries. The registries are used to store project data and track issuances and retirements of verified emission reductions. The registry ID can be used to identify projects in the standard registry.

Check out this project

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Verification happens regularly after each monitoring period. A validation and verification body checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct and verifies them. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the process.

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Validation happens early in the project life cycle and ensures that the project design is in line with current processes and requirements. This phase often also involves field visits with on-site interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved as a validation and verification body (VVB) by the standards body.

This figure shows the estimated annual emission reductions calculated before the project started. The actual number of emissions saved in each monitoring period may differ. The background to this process is that in order to be registered as a climate project, the project operator must submit the calculation of the estimated emissions savings using the ex-ante methodology in a Project Design Document (PDD), which is similar to a business plan. This calculation is validated by an independent auditor. The values determined in the PDD are recalculated during regular monitoring periods based on actual project performance, documented in a monitoring report, and verified again by independent auditors at the end of the monitoring period to ensure a robust process. Independent verification thus provides ex-post verification of actual emission reductions. Verified emission reductions are not distributed until the savings have actually been made.

Four criteria for projects to meet quality thresholds

01. AdditionalityA project must lead to lower carbon emissions than would have occured without the project. Additionality also means that a project relies on financing from the sale of emission reductions, as the project would otherwise not be feasible and the upfront investment would be too high for project developers.

02. Exclusion of double countingThe carbon reduction may only be counted once and may not be counted again elsewhere, so a Verified Emission Reduction is retired once it has been used. This process is recorded in official registries.

03. PermanenceThe criterion of permanence ensures that carbon reductions or removals are ongoing and do not occur just once. This guarantees a long-term benefit for the climate. The minimum duration of a project depends on the underlying project technology.

04. Audit by independent third-partiesClimate projects must be audited regularly by independent auditors such as TÜV Nord. These auditors verify that the project is in compliance with the relevant standards. They also determine the volume of carbon emissions that have actually been avoided or removed.

The life cycle of a climate project

A climate project has a set life cycle consisting of various phases, from the feasibility assessment to the retirement of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs).

Project planning phase

The project developer reviews the general feasibility of the project, the project design, and the financing. Then, the Project Design Document (PDD) is prepared, which contains all the basic information about the project, such as the objective, location, timeline, and duration.

Validation

In this phase, independent auditors examine the PDD and the information it contains. This phase often also involves field visits with on-side interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved by the relevant standard as a validation and verification body (VVB). TÜV Nord/Süd, S&A Carbon LLC., and SCS Global Services are examples of VVBs."

Registration

Once validated, the project can be registered with a standard such as the Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard. All high-quality climate projects are based on international standards. They provide the framework for project design, construction, carbon accounting, and monitoring. Recognised standards make the climate project system and the projects themselves resilient, traceable, and credible.

Monitoring

After the climate project has been registered, the monitoring begins. Here, the project developers monitor and document the data of the project activities and progress. The duration of the monitoring phase varies from project to project: it can cover two years, but documentation over five or seven years is also possible.

Verification

At the end of each monitoring phase, a VVB checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the verification process.

Issuance of Verified Emission Reductions

Once verified, the emission reductions that were confirmed in the verification phase can be issued as VERs. The steps of monitoring, verification, and issuance of VERs are repeated regularly and are therefore considered as a cycle.

Retirement of Verified Emission Reductions

Once a VER has been used, it must be retired. This process is also reflected in the registry. If the financing of a climate project is done through ClimatePartner, the VERs are bundled in a system certified by TÜV Austria and then retired on a regular basis. This ensures that each VER can no longer be sold and is only used once, preventing double counting.

* For certified projects only: the project-related information on this page is based on the documents in the register.

Explore our projects