Social Carbon Credits: A New Approach to Assessing the Impact of Social Development Projects Against the Sustainable Development Goals

This paper presents a pioneering approach to evaluating the impact of social development projects in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the concept of Social Carbon Credits (SCC). The proposed frame-work introduces Social Carbon Units (SCUs), which integrate measurable social benefits into traditional carbon credits, thus addressing both environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. The SCU model incorporates methodologically sound steps such as direct calculation of raw improvements, weighting by their importance, summation to derive total contributions, and adjusting for time and cost factors, as well as sensitivity analysis to ensure accuracy. To validate the framework, a dataset synthesized using ChatGPT was used to explore projects within the same sector, each addressing different SDG indicators. The results underscore the robustness and applicability of the SCU framework in quantifying and trading social impact alongside carbon reductions, thereby promoting comprehensive and sus-tainable development practices. This innovative model aims to enhance accountability, transparency, and investment in projects that contribute significantly to both social and environmental goals, offering a valuable tool for stakeholders, policymakers, and project managers.