How GlobalGiving’s Green Scoring Works:

1) Initial Qualification

GlobalGiving’s Green projects focus significantly on addressing climate change in a sustainable manner, typically through:

•  Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. putting up solar panels)
•  Enhancing carbon storage (e.g. planting trees)
•  Education and/or advocacy (e.g. teaching kids about the greenhouse effect)
•  Developing new technologies which encourage cleaner and more efficient energy use (e.g. fuel-efficient stoves)                      
•  Pursuing adaptation to local manifestations of climate change (e.g. promoting draught-resistant crops)

To ensure additionality, the activities must not be required by regulation. 

2) Additionality Testing

Potential projects are then scored based on a number of different factors.  The first and most important of these factors is additionality, which describes how much a project reduces harmful emissions above and beyond what would be "business as usual" in that area.  Here the project is scored using five tests for additionality:

• Financial Necessity: How crucial the funding provided through GlobalGiving is to advancing project     goals
• Performance: How many approaches to addressing climate change the project incorporates
• Permanence: Ensuring long term impact
• Multiplication of Aims: Ensuring wider impact beyond direct project goals
• Novelty: How common the climate change aspects of the project are in the area

For each of the five tests for additionality there is a guidance question which is ranked on a scale from 0-3.  Each test for additionality is then weighted equally for the overall additionality score.  Since additionality is the most important factor it is weighted most heavily in the overall scoring.  There is no way for a project to score well overall without having an acceptable level of additionality.  However, the total additionality score is weighted more heavily for projects that do well in this category. For those projects that have a lower but acceptable level of additionality, their additionality score is slightly de-emphasized in order to give them a chance to make up for it in the co-benefit categories.  

3) Co-Benefits Testing

Following the additionality scoring the projects are next scored on a series of four different co-benefits.  This includes:

• Ecology-Friendly Economics

This measures how much a project supports the local economy while also being mindful of the ecology. For instance, these projects replace current economic activities with more sustainable alternatives. Or, they may increase efficiency of existing technology and spur investment in new technology.

• Other Environmental Benefits

This measures the number of other benefits the project creates beyond just emission reductions. These projects not only reduce emissions, they may offer direct/indirect health or safety benefits, reduce other pollutants, or reduce or avoid additional environmental impacts.

• Social and Cultural Benefits

This measures the benefits to the community beyond emission reduction. While these projects are great for the environment, they may also offer educational opportunities, or increased independence and empowerment for community members.

• Adaptation Benefits

Extent to which the project assists a community and its people to adapt to the ways climate change has affected their culture

Each of these co-benefits is weighted equally in the overall co-benefits score.  For each co-benefit there are a variety of guidance questions that help to clarify a project’s value relative to each co-benefit.  Each of these guidance questions are ranked on a scale from 0 to 2 and used to get the total score for each co-benefit.  The total score for each co-benefit is then weighed equally to get a total co-benefit score.  This score is combined with the total additionality score to give you the overall project score.

How Does a Project Pass?

If the overall project score is at least 5 out of 10 then it is considered "green".