Credit share explained 

What is credit share?

For Intervention programs, credit share is a redistribution of the final, post-uncertainty, credits at the field level. Credit share is not driven by a protocol. This number is only offered to aid clients in grower payments or other incentives. 

All projects are run at the ‘project level’, aggregating field level outcomes, applying uncertainty and the conservative deduction at the project level. Then the Credit Share is the method to redistribution back down to the field level. This document will cover the multiple ways to do that redistribution offered by Regrow. 

While redistributions maintains the overall program's integrity for protocol, it is important to note that clients may still need to make adjustments to account for their own incentive structures.

What is available? 

Today, there are three credit share options available. 

1. Deduction: This makes all field level credits a bit more conservative by “deducting” a consistent percentage from the outcome of all fields to account for the protocol conservativeness.

2. Weighted Full: This redistributes credits proportionally for the field compared to the whole based on the initial (preliminary) DNDC results.

3. Enrollment: This is a legacy credit share option and is not recommended regularly. The goal is to encourage enrollment by growers by redistribute credits such that no field will have a negative value. (where a grower could theoretically be billed for negative outcomes).

Note: in the API developer documentation there is also a "Weighted" credit share; however, clients are encouraged not to use this method and instead use "Weighted Full". The redistribution math is the same as for "Weighted Full" and "Weighted". However, "Weighted" will be deprecated due to improved user experience of "Weighted Full".  

Deduction

“Deducts” a consistent percentage from the outcome of all fields to account for the protocol conservative deduction. 

This method is designed to ensure that the individual carbon credits allocated at the field level, maintain a consistent and proportional relationship between a field's original modeled performance and the final credit. 

It applies a consistent “deduction” or percent reduction from the preliminary outcome to the Credit Share outcome across all fields within the same crop, so that the sum of field level outcomes equals that of the crop and project level.  

How the numbers are altered

The preliminary credit values (e.g.,  Reversible dSOC Preliminary Credit (tCO2e)) across all fields are adjusted by this “deduction percent” to the resulting Credit Share value (Total Reversible Credit Share Updated (tCO2e)). This “deduction percent” will vary by management practices and impact, region, and field acreage. But for example, a 12% field level deduction could be applied across fields from the ‘Reversible dSOC Preliminary Credit (tCO2e)’ to the ‘Total Reversible Credit Share Updated (tCO2e) outcome’. 

• For fields with a positive credit outcome: A constant percentage is reduced from the initial value.

• For fields with a negative credit outcome: The same constant percentage is reduced (making the value more negative) from its initial value as well. 

Weighted Full 

This redistributes credits proportionally for the field compared to the whole based on the initial (preliminary) DNDC results.

How the numbers are altered

This is calculated as (preliminary tCO2e for a field/total preliminary tCO2e for that crop) * post-uncertainty tCO2e for that crop in Scope 3 and (preliminary tCO2e for a field/total preliminary tCO2e) * post-uncertainty tCO2e in Scope 1.

The outcomes can result in fields having both positive and negative credit share signs. During outcomes generation the protocol conservative deduction is applied (e.g. preliminary outcomes need to be reduced, or reported at, the respective protocol conservative deduction ex. 33rd percentile reporting for VM0042 programs). This can in certain circumstances (generally small acreage and number of fields) result in a positive preliminary outcome and negative credit share outcome under Weighted Full credit share methods. For this reason it is often preferred to use Deduction.  

Enrollment

Enrollment ensures there are no negative fields. 

How the numbers are altered

Credits from well performing fields are redistributed to poor performing fields to lift all values >0. This is used exclusively to understand how a client might incentivize early enrollment with the goal of longer term beneficial practices throughout that field's life in the program. It is not a long term credit share option and is why Regrow often does not recommend this option.