Appendix

Co-benefits

Below is a selection of co-benefits that are particularly aligned with Riverse’s program objectives. They are taken from the UN List of UN SDG indicators.

SDG	Description
	6.3 Improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials 6.4 Increase water-use efficiency 6.5 Protect and restore water-related ecosystems
	7.2 Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix 7.3 Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency 7.4 Facilitate access to clean energy research and technology
	8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation 8.3 Support decent job creation and innovation, and encourage micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises 8.4 Improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production 8.5 Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities
	9.4 Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes
	11.6 Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including air quality and municipal and other waste management 11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas
	12.2 Achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources 12.4 Achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle 12.5 Reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
	13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning (note that only GHG reduction measures beyond what is considered for carbon credit issuance may be considered as a co-benefit)
	14.1 Prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution 14.3 Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification
	15.1 Ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services 15.5 Reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species

Global Warming Potentials

GHG emissions and reductions shall be calculated using the following IPCC Global Warming Potential (GWP) values for a 100 year horizon according to . The GWPs for the main greenhouse gasses are summarized below, and the full list of GWPs can be found in the , Table 7.SM.7.

Species	Global warming potential 100-year
CO$_2$	1
CH$_4$ fossil	29.8
CH$_4$ biogenic	27
N$_2$O	273
HFC-32	771
HFC-134a	1526
CFC-11	6226
PFC-14	7380

Riverse Registry IT security standards

The following security measures are the minimum requirements for the Riverse Registry, and ensure confidentiality, integrity, and data availability:

• Data transfers shall always use industry-standard encryption technology (SSL/TLS/HTTPS).

• Application authentication shall be enabled and verified by a third-party provider that meets industry best practice, is internationally recognized, and is ISO27001 certified.

• Backend service and database hosting shall be enabled by a third-party provider that enables encryption.

• Administrative tools shall be provided 2FA for admin authentication and sign-in.

The Riverse Secretariat shall verify at least twice per calendar year that the IT security requirements are met, and summarize the findings in a report made publicly available on the Riverse website. The following elements shall be verified:

• Verify compliance with the above requirements

• Verify security vulnerability status and upgrade all JavaScript dependencies with npm.

• Review Authentication provider access

• Review Cloud provider IAM accounts and access

• Rotate database passwords, API keys (internal and external)

• Review Database connection allowlist

• Review repository history for leaked secrets

• Verify application authorization rules

Ramp up impacts

Some projects have particularly high environmental impacts in their first year(s) of operation. This can be caused by inefficiency in early stages of operations while ramping up their processes. For example, at the beginning of a project, there may be very high consumption of inputs for a rather low production of outputs. This does not include emissions of construction and infrastructure, which are amortized over many years.

In some cases, this ramp-up effect may lead the project to emit more GHGs than the baseline scenario in the first year of the crediting period. In this case, the project’s validation and verification of the first two years will be bundled. This way, the project’s net induced emissions from the first year are subtracted from the avoided emissions of the second year.

For example, if Project A launches in Year 1 and is found to emit 300 tCO$_2$eq more than the baseline scenario, no RCCs are issued for Year 1.

In Year 2, Project A avoids 4,000 tCO$_2$eq compared to the baseline scenario. After verification at the end of Year 2, Project A is issued 4,000 - 300 = 3,700 RCCs.

If the project is still a net emitter and does not avoid any emissions at the end of the second year of the crediting period, the project will be dropped from the Riverse certification process.

When RCCs are bundled for the first two years of a crediting period, the vintage is the second year.

Note that this ramp-up effect only relates to high volume or frequent use of consumables in the first year, not to fixed inputs such as machinery and buildings. This is because according to the LCA approach, the emissions of these long-lived inputs are distributed annually over their usable lifespan. Fixed inputs refer to products where the lifespan is more than 1 year, and includes objects such as machinery, tanks, pipelines, building materials, and concrete slabs. Consumables refer to inputs that are taken up by the process and consumed in order to create the product. Their use is usually recurring and ongoing, and include inputs such as electricity, water, fuel for transportation, feedstock inputs (for biogas), and replacement screens (for electronics reconditioning).

For example, if a machine is installed in Year 1, and its life cycle carbon footprint is 50 tCO$_2$eq, and it has a 25 year service life, its impacts included in the Year 1 calculations are 50/25= 2 tCO$_2$eq. For every year of operation, 2 tCO$_2$eq are counted from the machine. There is no ramp-up effect because the impacts of the machine are the same in Year 1 as all other years.

Avoided emissions: absolute decrease vs. smaller increase

There are two types of avoided emissions: those that lead to an absolute decrease in emissions, and those that lead to a smaller increase in emissions.

Absolute decrease: there is a real absolute decrease in emissions compared to the baseline scenario.

Smaller increase: there is a relative decrease in emissions compared to the baseline scenario, but still an absolute increase in emissions. This may happen when a project intervenes in a sector with growing demand, where overall production increases, so emissions increase over time.

Both types of avoided emissions can be eligible for RCCs, as long as they meet the reduction targets for their sector.