Nested approach
A design in which individual projects sit within a larger jurisdictional accounting boundary and share one emissions ledger.
Nesting reconciles two scales that would otherwise conflict. Projects need site-level precision and direct incentives; governments need territorial accounting for national commitments. A nested system provides both by placing project results inside the jurisdictional ledger.
Operationally this means shared baselines and allocation rules: which portion of the territorial result a project may claim, how project baselines adjust when the jurisdictional reference changes, and how double counting is prevented across the boundary.
Nesting is difficult because the incentives are asymmetric. A jurisdiction wants credit for aggregate progress; a project wants certainty about its own units. Transparent allocation rules and stable contracts are what make the arrangement work.
Frequently asked questions
Do nested projects keep their own credits?
They keep an allocated share, defined by the nesting rules, accounted within the territorial total.
Why not credit only at project level?
Because project boundaries miss leakage across the wider landscape and cannot reflect policy-driven change.