Collaborative investments between the private and public sector are crucial for expanding large-scale carbon removal technologies. But these collaborations raise critical questions about who gets to claim the carbon removal benefits against climate targets.

In this report, the Carbon Direct science team explores dual accounting on national ledgers and organizational inventories in the context of the collaboration between Microsoft and the Danish government, on which Carbon Direct served as a technical advisor. The report explains the key differences between problematic double counting—when two private entities claim credit for the same emissions reduction or removal—and functional dual accounting—when a private entity’s reduction is reflected on a national inventory.