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The objective of this paper is to explain elements that are related to credit credibility and high quality carbon credits to buyers (private companies) who are considering the use of offset credits. These elements could serve as a general guidance and should be considered when purchasing offset credits from voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). In addition, in the paper we highlight the risks related to those elements that would undermine the quality of carbon credits. We also describe how independent crediting mechanisms can reduce those risks, which credit buyers should take into consideration when selecting high quality offset credits.

Integrating climate actions and the SDGs poses some major governance-related challenges, in the forms of horizontal integration across different governmental agencies and vertical interactions among different levels of administrative decision making, while at the same time ensuring effective participation of relevant stakeholders in the policymaking processes. There is increasing recognition that vertical interactions can help bridge the gaps between global, national and local policy processes. In this respect, local and subnational authorities such as provinces and cities play crucial roles due to their potential for dynamic responses to climate change and sustainable development issues. The current study explores these issues and questions for West Java, a region of a country that is moving rapidly on its climate and SDG agenda. The study made use of a stakeholder consultation, which was conducted through an online questionnaire survey involving over 100 stakeholders, followed by an online focused group discussion (FGD) involving over 20 of the survey respondents. The stakeholder consultation aimed at eliciting the key challenges, synergies and trade-offs between climate actions and the SDGs, and involved IGES partnering with the Center for Sustainable Development Goals Studies (SDGs Center) at the University of Padjadjaran (UNPAD). This paper introduces the stakeholder consultation activity conducted in West Java, summarises the results and discusses the stakeholder perceptions on the interlinkages of climate actions and SDGs in the local context. The results from this paper can be used in analyses of the synergies and trade-offs between climate actions and the SDGs for West Java.