Socioeconomic Value (Project Assessment and Final Decision)

S2: Socioeconomic value: This criterion assesses the broader value of the project to the environment, community, and to sectoral and national development, based on SDG indicators that are: (1) most relevant for demonstrating value to the wider economy; and (2) easiest to quantify for ERC projects. While certain carbon standards might require projects to monitor and verify their SDG contributions, which can be used as a reference, this assessment requires a further analysis to map SDG contributions that would be most relevant to governments for assessing a project’s wider contributions to the economy. This is also withstanding that projects could be contributing to SDGs that are not yet indicated at the stage of assessment.

The following sources and analyses can serve as a guide for the assessment:

• Review the project’s identified SDG contributions, if any, or otherwise benefits to the environment, community, and economy via project documents and/or interviews with the project counterpart.
• Identify indicators provided that match the project’s contributions and assess if they meet the indicated threshold. See Figure 4.20.

The guidepost for the ‘Overall socioeconomic value’ subcomponent is based on both the number of SDG contributions, and whether the SDG contributions will be monitored and certified should be considered, as the latter suggests a higher quality of indicators given the assurance that they will be carried out throughout the project’s verification cycles.

Figure 4.20. Guideposts for rating socioeconomic value

Figure 4.21. Indicators for project’s SDG contributions

SDG	Impact area	Example indicators	Threshold	Relevant for project type
	Increased productivity	Crop yield in kilograms per hectare and year as a result of the project's intervention. Yield per livestock unit and year as a result of the project.	Increase in yield	Agriculture
	Air quality improvement	Area under reduced/avoided open burning of biomass, crop residue. Number of farmers reduced/avoided open burning of biomass, crop residue.	Positive number	Forestry Agriculture
	Capacity building	Number of employees provided with skill development training.	Positive number	All
	Gender	Proportion of women in managerial positions in project.	Proportion more than men	All
	Access to basic services	Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services (access to improved source of water).	Increase in proportion	Water filters
	Access to basic services	Proportion of wastewater safely treated.	Increase in proportion	Wastewater treatment
	Energy generation, efficiency & access	Total renewable energy produced by project. Number of beneficiaries of electricity powered by renewable energy: households & individuals. Proportion of population with increased access to electricity.	Positive number	Renewable energy
	Access to basic services	Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology, attributed by project.	Increase in proportion	Cookstoves
	Employment	Total number of jobs generated from project activity. Value paid towards local employment.	Positive number	All
	Infrastructure development	Total official international inflows for infrastructure development support.	Positive number	All
	Access to basic services	Average household savings due to adoption of project technology.	Positive number	Household projects
	Waste management	Proportion of urban solid waste regularly collected and managed out of total urban solid waste generated as a result of project.	Increase in proportion	Waste disposal
	Sustainable forest management	Reduction in synthetic fertilizer or pesticides consumption on land area under project.	Positive number	IFM REDD Agriculture
	Sustainable forest management	Coverage of protected areas in relation to marine areas.	Positive number	REDD
	Sustainable forest management	Increased total above and below ground biomass stock in forest. Total area of native trees planted. Number of protected threatened species in the project area and conservation status of species.	Positive number	IFM REDD ARR

These indicators provide examples of how SDGs can be quantified, taking reference from Gold Standard’s SDG Impact Tool¹, and may not be exhaustive. The list of indicators can evolve and be added to, based on relevancy to the project activity and its contributions to the overall objective of the SDG. The threshold for each SDG indicator represents the minimum quantum or change in quantum to ascertain if a given project's SDG contribution can be counted. See Figure 4.21.

Footnote 1: Gold Standard SDG Impact Tool