How it works

The core of Social Carbon^TM methodology is a set of diagnostic assessments of communities affected by emission reduction projects, and of the projects themselves. These are carried out at the beginning of the project to provide a baseline (Point Zero), and repeated over time to provide a moving picture of the contribution to sustainable development.

To help illustrate this picture, a graphic representation of Social Carbon^TM has been devised in the form of a hexagon diagram. Each corner of the hexagon represents one of six resources that can be assessed in a community: carbon, biodiversity, social, financial, human and natural.

With the participation of community members, professional groups and project staff, each of these resources is assessed and given a value between one (no access to the resource, at the center) and six (full access to the resource, on the outside) and plotted on the hexagon. In this way, a snapshot of the condition of the community, and of the project itself, can be portrayed in terms of a particular shape, revealing its strengths and weaknesses, and where interventions should be targeted. 

In the above diagram, illustrative results are shown from the “Point Zero” baseline and the first three annual diagnostic assessments of a project or community. As the plotted shape moves towards the outer boundary of the hexagon, it is an indication that access to resources is improving, and therefore that sustainability is increasing.