Carbon and credits
Accounting boundary
The accounting boundary defines what a carbon calculation includes: the area, the carbon pools such as trees, soil and dead wood, the greenhouse gases, and the emission sources such as fuel and fertiliser. Anything outside it is not counted, as a gain or as a loss.
A boundary drawn to include the gains and leave out the emissions overstates the result. Methodologies list what must be inside it for that reason.
Emissions caused outside the boundary, such as activity displaced to a neighbouring area, are handled through leakage rather than ignored.