American Carbon Registry Approves IFM Methodology for US Commercial Timberlands

Unleashing US Forest Carbon Offset Potential
September 27, 2010 7:42am EDT

ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Carbon Registry (ACR) announces approval of an Improved Forest Management (IFM) Methodology for Quantifying GHG Removals and Emission Reductions through Increased Forest Carbon Sequestration on U.S. Timberlands developed by Finite Carbon Corporation, a leading U.S. forest carbon project developer.


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The methodology targets privately owned industrial timberlands in the U.S. managed under an existing commercial timber harvesting program. Landowners must make a long-term commitment to manage their properties to sequester carbon above and beyond what would normally occur under an institutional timber owner’s typical business-as-usual management.

The methodology approval is groundbreaking for the possibilities it unleashes in the market. Despite the enormous potential for hundreds of millions of acres of private forestlands in the U.S. to participate in the carbon market, to date only five forest carbon projects have been registered and verified. Four of those are California-based projects registered on the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), and the fifth is a large multi-state project registered on ACR. The dearth of projects is due to the lack of workable, scientifically sound methodologies for key project types such as IFM. The methodology, the first to specifically target industrial timberlands, applies conservative assumptions throughout to ensure no crediting of non-additional activities, a flaw that has plagued existing IFM methodologies. It will be complemented in the future by other ACR methodologies for non-industrial private forests and public lands.

“The Finite Carbon IFM methodology fills a critical gap in the U.S. forest carbon market by providing a straightforward and scalable framework for commercial timber land managers to develop high-quality IFM projects,“ said Nicholas Martin, ACR’s chief technical officer. “We expect to see many good projects come to market.”

IFM has been included as an eligible project type under both House and Senate cap-and-trade bills and ACR’s methodology approval process of public consultation and expert peer review is consistent with criteria for pre-compliance recognition in recent federal bills as well as state and regional programs. This means that offsets resulting from projects developed following the new ACR methodology are a strong pre-compliance choice. Forest carbon offsets are also widely sought after in the voluntary market, where corporate social responsibility buyers seek “charismatic” carbon offsets, such as those that protect forests.

“We appreciate the rigor of ACR’s public comment and external scientific peer review process for methodology approval,” said Sterling Griffin, Finite Carbon’s vice president for project development and the methodology’s lead author. “The process really helped clarify and improve the methodology. Finite Carbon has been impressed by how quickly, yet comprehensively the process was completed, creating confidence that the methodology was meticulously evaluated by experts and found to be environmentally sound.”

“This is a major milestone for Finite Carbon and our forest carbon project portfolio throughout the United States,” added Scott Nissenbaum, president of Finite Carbon. “We need to offer solutions and options to landowners and quality offsets to buyers. We have been impressed with the knowledge and expertise at Winrock and ACR, which will facilitate this process,” he continued. “The end result is a methodology that balances concerns of commercial operability, environmental integrity and cost, all of which are crucial for high-quality projects to be developed on a scale that will have an impact.”

About the American Carbon Registry

The nonprofit American Carbon Registry (ACR), an enterprise of Winrock International, is a leading carbon offset program recognized for its strong standards for environmental integrity. Founded in 1996 as the GHG Registry by Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Resources Trust, ACR has 15 years of experience in the development of rigorous, science-based carbon offset standards and methodologies as well as in carbon offset issuance, serialization and transparent online transaction and retirement reporting. As the first private voluntary GHG registry in the world, ACR has set the bar in the global voluntary carbon market for offset quality and operational transparency. For more information, please visit www.americancarbonregistry.org

About Finite Carbon Corporation

Finite Carbon is the country’s No. 1 forest carbon developer based on listed U.S. projects. It provides landowners with a single-source, end-to-end solution to create and monetize carbon offsets. Solely focused on forest carbon, the company was founded in 2009 by forestry and finance experts, and offers the most comprehensive forest carbon project development and commercialization service in the country. Finite Carbon, which has to date secured contracts for two million carbon offsets, valued at $12 million, is headquartered in Wayne, Pa., and has offices in San Francisco, Calif., and Cherry Creek, N.Y. For more information, please visit www.finitecarbon.com

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Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/09/27/2233508/american-carbon-registry-approves.html#ixzz10lTCaEJg

Tanzania project first to earn VCS forest credits

Thu Sep 23, 2010 2:24pm GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Tanzanian reforestation project has become the first forestry investment to be issued carbon offsets under an industry-backed standard that assures investors the emission reductions are credible and long-term.

The Voluntary Carbon Standard said on Thursday the first batch of credits had been issued this week and placed in the VCS registry.

London-based The CarbonNeutral Company, which helps firms cut their carbon emissions, is marketing the credits.

The project in the southern highlands of Tanzania involves converting degraded grassland into sustainably harvested eucalypt and pine forests that soak up carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, earning CO2 offsets.

The forests cover 7,250 hectares (18,125 acres) in Uchindile district and 3,560 hectares at Mapanda district, the VCS and The CarbonNeutral Company said in a statement.

To protect investors, 40 percent of the initial batch of 232,264 credits would be placed in a special buffer account, they said. This is to guarantee delivery of the credits going forward in case the trees are destroyed by fire or other reasons.

Pricing of the nearly 140,000 credits varied depending on sales volume and other factors, Jonathan Shopley, managing director of The CarbonNeutral Company, told Reuters, without giving a range.

He said the flow of credits is expected to increase as the project reaches full development.

The VCS sets strict carbon accounting criteria that aims to assure investors that offset projects are properly designed and transparent. They were created to try to address investors' fears about forestry projects that might be poorly managed or where the trees are later cut down, for example, through illegal logging.

The Tanzania project also met the standards of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance, the statement said.

Ten per cent of the carbon credit revenues would be returned to the local communities to build classrooms, teachers' houses, dispensaries and roads, while 200 local people were employed in the forests.

Oil palm plantations on peatlands won't get carbon credits under CDM

mongabay.com
September 19, 2010

Plantations on peatlands will no longer be supported by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a framework for industrialized countries to reduce their emissions via projects in developing countries, reports Wetlands International.

The decision, which came last Friday during the executive board meeting, will bar biofuel plantations established on peatlands from earning carbon credits that could then be sold to industrialized countries to "offset" emissions. The concern is that under the CDM, carbon finance is used to perversely subsidize conversion of carbon-dense peatlands for oil palm plantations, a process that generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions, thereby undermining any potential carbon dioxide savings from use of palm oil-based biodiesel.

“We are very relieved that within a year, the CDM Board has decided to revise the existing methodology," said Marcel Silvius of Wetlands International in a statement. "This decision now ends a perverse incentive for development of plantations on peatlands.”

A Wetlands International statement explains:
Last year, the CDM Executive Board approved a methodology that now gave till last week CDM credits to biodiesel plantations on so-called ‘degraded lands’ in developing countries. The CDM allows industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Party) to reduce their emissions via projects in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets. This methodology was meant to stimulate sequestration of carbon via replanting of degraded, devegetated land areas with renewable energy crops as alternative for conventional diesel.

In practice, this methodology gave an additional financial boast to new palm oil plantations on the logged peatswamps in Southeast Asia. These ‘degraded’ lands however still contain large amounts of carbon in the case of water logged organic peat soils. This carbon will be rapidly released upon drainage for plantations.

Draining and clearing of peat forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Research led by Dr. Susan Page University of Leicester found that producing one ton of palm oil on peatland generates 15 to 70 tons of CO2 over 25 years as a result of forest conversion, peat decomposition and emission from fires associated with land clearance. In other words, biodiesel produced under such conditions has a greater climate impact than conventional fossil fuels.

As such, environmental groups are calling for a moratorium on the conversion of peatlands for biofuel production. Already about 33% of all oil palm is on peat, according to Wetlands International.

The decision by the CDM Executive Board now removes one incentive from peatland conversion, although developers—especially in Indonesia—are still targeting peat swamps for expansion. Peat lands tend to be cheaper and more available than other soil types suitable for oil palm cultivation.

BNP Paribas and Wildlife Works Ink $50 million REDD Deal

21 September 2010 | LONDON | BNP Paribas Corporate & Investment Banking (BNP Paribas) has announced an agreement between its Commodity Derivatives business and Wildlife Works Carbon LLC, in which BNP Paribas will provide up to US$50 million in finance to combat tropical deforestation and climate change.

The bank’s Carbon Finance business and Wildlife Works will develop a portfolio of large scale Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) carbon projects in Africa. BNP Paribas will have the option to purchase avoided emission credits created from the portfolio.

The facility provides funding for Wildlife Works’ efforts to source, develop, implement and manage REDD projects in Africa. With BNP Paribas’ backing, Wildlife Works now has the financial resources to support its efforts to protect endangered forests in the region and reinforces its ability to manage large-scale preservation projects.

In addition BNP Paribas has the right to purchase 1.25 million tonnes of avoided emissions credits over the next five years from Wildlife Works’ Kasigau Corridor REDD project in Kenya. This project is East Africa’s first avoided deforestation project to receive validation under the Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance standards, and is designed to bring substantial benefits to local communities in education and job creation, while protecting biodiversity at the same time.

“We intend to develop a portfolio of valuable REDD+ projects, known as much for an uncompromising approach to biodiversity protection and community development as for strong financial returns,” said Mike Korchinsky, Founder and President of Wildlife Works. “Through this agreement, African communities will benefit financially while safeguarding their environment for future generations.”

Christian de Valle, Director, Environmental Markets in Commodity Derivatives at BNP Paribas, said: “We believe that REDD+ projects will have an important role in efforts to mitigate climate change as well as in the post-2012 carbon markets. We are very pleased to form a partnership with Wildlife Works and view the agreement as an important milestone in managing forest carbon.”

Forest Fund to Invest in New Zealand

Monday, 20 September 2010 - 7:48pm
Wellington, Sept 20 NZPA - A new fund in Australia has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in forests in New Zealand and Australia.

New Forests Pty has closed the approximate $A500 million ($NZ648m) Australia New Zealand Forest Fund, which will invest in timberland properties and forestry-related assets in Australia and New Zealand.

The fund's investors include international and regional institutional investors who have identified Australian and New Zealand timberland as an attractive component of their alternative asset portfolio allocation.

"Now is the right time for investors to be weighting toward the timberland asset class because of its low volatility and positive correlation to inflation," David Brand, managing director of New Forests, said.

"Australia and New Zealand's timberland sectors are restructuring as a result of the failure of several forestry Managed Investment Scheme businesses in Australia and the flow on effects of the global financial crisis. This has created a once-in-a-generation change of ownership of the forestry and land asset base -- which may be worth $A3 billion-$A4 billion -- but the strong underlying market fundamentals of the sector remain, driven by growth in Asia."

The fund's establishment comes after Harvard Management Company (HMC), the manager of Harvard University's endowment and owner of plantation forest assets in New Zealand, recently highlighted natural resources as an area of investment.

HMC is the majority owner of Kaingaroa Timberlands, the second largest owner of plantation forest assets in New Zealand behind US fund manager Hancock Natural Resources Group. NZ Superannuation Fund owns 40 percent of Kaingaroa Timberlands and it is its largest single investment.

"We believe natural resources is a core strength in our portfolio, offering inflation protection, cash flow and long-term growth," HMC said.

Port of Tauranga has said a 24 percent rise in log exports helped lift its full-year underlying earnings.

Forestry-related exports through the port rose 19 percent to 6.04m tonnes in the year to June 30. This includes pulp, paper and timber products. Log exports rose 24 percent from the previous year.

Chief executive Mark Cairns said log exports were back at 2003 levels. Log exports in July were up 7 percent on the same month last year.

China has been a big market but in July the port handled more logs destined for Korea than China.

Mr Cairns said the Indian market was also emerging strongly and the Japanese market was bouncing back. "We are seeing a firming of other markets," he said.

NZPA WGT pjg g

EU re-examines forestry's climate role

Carbon Positive
Being shut out of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme has been a big negative
for the forestry and forest carbon project industries, denying them access
to ...

DOMTAR AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY TEAM UP ON PILOT PROGRAM FOR WORKING WOODLANDS

The Nature Conservancy's Model Forest Conservation Program Will Help Enroll Private Landowners Near Domtar'sJohnsonburg, Pa., Mill

MONTREAL, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Domtar Corporation (NYSE/TSX: UFS) and The Nature Conservancy today announced that they have partnered to help private landowners maintain and sustainably manage their forested land through a program called Working Woodlands.

The Nature Conservancy will cooperate with Working Woodlands landowners to develop sustainable forest management plans that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council(TM), a nonprofit group devoted to ensuring the highest standards of responsible forest management. In addition to generating FSC(R) certified forest products, the certified lands are also managed to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that more carbon is stored in the forest.

The Conservancy then works with Blue Source, one of the world's leading greenhouse gas offset developers, to market and sell the landowners' forest carbon credits. In return, landowners agree to manage the forest sustainably for at least 60 years.

"Working Woodlands is an innovative approach to help forest owners manage their properties for ecological health, productivity and better economic return," said Lewis Fix, Domtar Vice-President, Brand Management and Sustainable Product Development. "The program marks the first time private landowners can gain access to markets that will help them sustain healthy, diverse, rich forests. We are excited to team with The Nature Conservancy and help show how proper forestry practices lead to sustainable and renewable paper and wood products that consumers can feel good about using."

This marks the latest effort by Domtar, a global leader in paper manufacturing, to help better manage forests. As a founding member of the Canadian Boreal Leadership Council, Domtar joined forces in 2003 with First Nations communities, environmental groups and other resource companies to help sustain the Canadian boreal forest region. A few years later, Domtar transferred 15 square miles of land in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec and sold 20,000 acres in New York'sAdirondack Mountains to The Nature Conservancy. This year, Domtar contributed to preserving an additional 2,011 acres of wetlands in the Eastern Townships region with a land transfer to Ducks Unlimited Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated the conservation of wetlands.

The Nature Conservancy and Blue Source launched Working Woodlands in December 2009, and the program has already attracted interest from landowners whose total holdings exceed 10,000 acres. Additionally, the Conservancy has certified its own Pennsylvania forest properties under FSC(R), and has led efforts globally to promote forest certification and carbon trading as incentives for conservation.

Under the pilot program with The Nature Conservancy, Domtar will donate US$30,000 over the next two years to help enroll a total of 20,000 acres in Working Woodlands. At least 4,000 acres are expected to be from owners of small plots of forested land near Domtar's Johnsonburg paper mill in Central Pennsylvania, but the impact could be far more extensive. Domtar and The Nature Conservancy said the pilot program may also expand to areas surrounding Domtar's mills in the Southeast United States.

"Well-managed forests can help both the environment and the economy," said Dylan Jenkins, Director of Forest Conservation for The Nature Conservancy's Pennsylvania chapter. "We want to encourage well-managed forests to remain forests. Working Woodlands is a win for our forests, our wildlife, our landowners, our economy and our planet," he said. "We're pleased to work with Domtar to help protect Pennsylvania's forests."

    For more information:     Working Woodlands http://www.nature.org/paforests     Sustainable Forestry http://www.domtar.com/fr/croissance-durable/index.asp

Loggers, Environmentalists Co-Manage Canadian Boreal Forest

The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was signed a few months ago by 21 forest companies and 9 leading environmental organizations. Components of the three-year agreement include the suspension of logging on parts of Boreal Forest equal to the size of Nevada and representing almost all Boreal caribou habitat within company tenures, to allow for intensive caribou protection planning while maintaining uninterrupted mill operations, and the suspension, by participating environmental organizations, of divestment and "do not buy" campaigns targeting the Boreal operations and products of companies participating in the Boreal Agreement.

Nat Geo News Watch invited Avrim Lazar, President and CEO, Forest Product Association of Canada, and Richard Brooks, Forest Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace Canada, to write the accompanying op-ed article about the groundbreaking collaboration.

By Avrim Lazar and Richard Brooks

On May 18, 2010, the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was announced. It is one of the world's largest conservation agreements, setting forward a roadmap for achieving greater community, industry and forest sustainability and conservation in one of the world's last remaining and most important wilderness forests.

Our organizations plus eight other leading environmental organizations and 21 forest products companies signed the Agreement because it is ambitious and solutions-orientated and because we believe it will deliver results.

"It is what some have called one of the world's most astonishing partnerships."

It is what some have called one of the world's most astonishing partnerships.

Paradigm Shift

The Agreement is a paradigm shift and is a testament to leadership, courage and creativity. It creates the space to do conservation planning in an area twice the size of Germany at 72 million hectares [278,000 square miles]. If we are successful, and after a lot of hard work, it will lead to the creation of vast new protected areas, the application of new world-leading forest practices, a revitalization of the companies who are participants and support for the renewal of the communities which depend on the forest industry for jobs.

This revolutionary understanding between environmentalists and the forest industry did not come about over night. The negotiation process for the Agreement itself took close to two years in an environment fraught with tension and mistrust, targeted campaigns and marketplace uncertainty.

Click on the image to enlarge the map.

Map courtesy of Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement

It started as a conversation in which each party was speaking nearly a different language. With the aid of a translator, our facilitator, many long meetings, and a lot of good will and desire for change, we achieved the Agreement.

"This is the game-changer and the start of doing it differently."

In Canada, we had been butting heads and battling it out with a few notable but much smaller partnerships for nearly twenty years. This is the game-changer and the start of doing it differently.

The Canadian Boreal Forest is one of the world's most important forests. It is one of the largest storehouses of carbon on the planet--banking more than 200 billion tonnes in its soils and trees.

It is home to more than 600 First Nations and Aboriginal communities. It is the source of billions of dollars in forest products sold globally.

It is home to one billion migratory birds and is the source of fresh water for half of Canada. It is one of the few remaining, truly vast wilderness spaces left in the world.

Caribou a central driver

One of the central drivers of the creation of the Agreement was the state of woodlandcaribou, an iconic and umbrella species in the Boreal Forest.

The woodland caribou are threatened or endangered through much of their range and in recent years have become the poster child of environmental campaigns in regards to the Boreal Forest in Canada and internationally.

The plight of this animal has been dire and one of the Agreement's main goals is to have the trend towards extinction reversed though the achievement of conservation plans and new protected areas.

From the outset, the Agreement restricts logging and forestry on more than 26 million hectares of prime caribou habitat in order to create the space for our work to be done.

NGS stock photo of caribou bull by George F. Mobley

The Agreement also encompasses other main goals including the establishment of the world leading sustainable forest management practices, collaboration on life-cycle forest carbon projects, and support for communities.

Another important goal of the Agreement is the marketplace recognition for signatory companies in relation to progress on the goals of the Agreement.

Rewarding companies for leadership

Organizations such as Greenpeace, Canopy and ForestEthics, who have traditionally run "do not buy" and flashy boycott campaigns against the companies, will work with the companies to garner support in the marketplace for the achievements under the Agreement. In essence, rewarding the companies financially for their leadership work.

We have put important mechanisms in place to help us achieve our goals--a series of milestones to direct and track our progress in all aspects of our work, for example, designing conservation plans for caribou in a set period of time.

The milestones will be reported on regularly by an independent auditor who will not hold back in noting missed milestones and laggards. Leading customers and investors are also being convened to review and support progress.

Permanent change has not yet been achieved, but through our work over the coming months and years and much-needed trust-building, we hope to see radical change become long-lasting.

VIDEO: The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement--a conversation hosted by the Pew Environment Group, between the Forest Products Association of Canada and Greenpeace on what the Agreement means to Canada and the world.

Through the Agreement, we will be able to come to the table with government as partners offering win-win solutions, rather than zero-sum choices between competing visions for how to manage our precious forestry resources. We tried the old way for a long time; now we are trying it a new way on the grandest scale possible.

"Companies of the Forest Product Association of Canada (FPAC) understand that the marketplace is changing, and that their customers care about where their products come from."

The member companies of the Forest Product Association of Canada (FPAC) understand that the marketplace is changing, and that their customers care about where their products come from. The environmental credentials of the products customers are buying is of key concern, and a prime condition in purchasing decisions.

When implemented, the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement will provide FPAC members with a competitive market edge as it shows the marketplace the dedicated leadership the industry has to the environment, conservation efforts, and the importance of building lasting partnerships that commits them to secure the world's best sustainable forest management practices now and into the future.

In short, the Agreement recognizes that winning in today's global market for forestry products requires a focus on going green and working smart. FPAC's members get it, and the Agreement reflects this.

The Agreement and its signatories will not impose obligations on anyone other than the signatories. It recognizes the authority of governments and the role other stakeholders will need to play in the years ahead.

Aboriginal Peoples recognized

Importantly, the participants recognize that Canada's Aboriginal peoples, its First Nations, are governments as well, equal but different from provincial and national governments. These First Nations have say over their traditional territories on which the participant companies operate. We believe these governments and their communities will be decision-makers just like provincial governments and we hope they will support the outcomes of our planning work.

The collaborative leadership approach to the Agreement indicates that the values of 21st-century leadership must include the interwoven aspects of the environment and the economy. Without one supporting the other the feasibility of a sustainable future is virtually impossible.

It is this leadership that spurs innovative thinking, collaborative partnerships and successful future endeavours in both business and in resource management.

The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement is the backbone to the idea that more can be done and that boundaries should never be drawn on environmental progress. This Agreement is the new environmental and business model for the world.

--Avrim Lazar, President and CEO, Forest Product Association of Canada
--Richard Brooks, Forest Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace Canada

Richard Brooks (left), Steve Kallick of the Pew Environment Group (center), and Avrim Lazar shake hands on the deal.

Photo courtesy of Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement

Environmental Organizations Participating in the Agreement:

Canadian Boreal Initiative, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Canopy, David Suzuki Foundation, ForestEthics, Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, Pew Environment Group International Boreal Conservation Campaign, and Ivey Foundation

Forestry Companies Participating in the Agreement:

AbitibiBowater Inc., Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., AV Group, Canfor Corporation, Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership, Cariboo Pulp & Paper Company, Cascades inc., Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd., F.F. Soucy Inc., Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Limited Partnership, Kruger Inc., Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd., Mercer International, Mill & Timber Products Ltd., NewPage Corporation, Papier Masson Ltée, SFK Pâte, Tembec, Tolko Industries Ltd., West FraserTimber Co. Ltd., and Weyerhaeuser Company Limited -- all represented by the Forest Products Association of Canada

Full text of the Agreement (1.08MB pdf)

BUSINESS: CARBON COWBOYS MAKE A MOVE ON VANUATU

ECO2 Forests’ multi-million dollar deal a worry Bob Makin Many in Vanuatu see the internet start-up of this forestry (re-forestation) company as the arrival of what in the United States is termed as “carbon cowboys”. This company’s executives call themselves “eco-imagineers”—some say this is a further reason to worry. Presently, re-forestation in Vanuatu means just one place, Espiegle Bay, north-west Malakula. It means one company, Eco2 Forests. This company says it owns 20,000 acres of Big Nambas territory for a “multi-million dollar carbon credit deal”. ECO2 speaks of 31 square miles of re-forestation even though they only have a title comprising only 900 hectares. A recent tour by environmental and forestry personnel learned that only one lease, the original for 900 hectares, had been completed. The price paid for that lease seems to have been a truck and roughly A$20,000. The company and its executives have been making expansive internet claims concerning their properties and product, a cultivar of the Asian paulownia tree called kiri, for more than a year now, all in the name of carbon trading. The idea behind forestry for carbon trading is that trees suck carbon dioxide from the air, making them a tradeable ‘offset’ for greenhouse gas emissions. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol emanating from that major environmental conference in Japan sets rules for obtaining credits through re-forestation. Whilst environmentalists generally support the principal of re-forestation for the purpose of carbon sequestration in Vanuatu, it is extremely important to governments and communities that such projects are undertaken properly and in accordance with established protocols. ECO2 Forests says it will be seeking enlistment through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, but this is no easy matter. It begins with establishing what the base line happens to be. There is quite a lot of vegetation already where they plan to grow kiri trees, and that means achieving this starting point figure will be daunting, to say the least. For a company which has not admitted to any local presence and only answered a few questions in the media, carrying this out and calculating the leakage of carbon in the removal of that secondary bush, before going any further, ought to be a real worry for the eco-imagineers. Then, there is the question of additionality. What does the commercial undertaking add, by way of carbon sequestration, in a country in which logging has been banned for 20 years? Owing to the complexity of registration, only a handful of companies worldwide have managed to become registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which also involves third party auditing and approval before any carbon credits are sold. Vanuatu does not have a cadre of professionals ready to administer the CDM mechanisms. Early sales of carbon credits by ECO2 are therefore a really big worry. Like the missing acreage. There has to be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), but how to fit that with the missing acres is also a worry. In Vanuatu, land is leased out, but ownership remains with the customary landowners and his descendants in perpetuity. There must be consultation with stakeholders. Firstly, this would have to establish any ‘tabu’ areas such as burial grounds and places of earlier settlement.And stake-holders have a variety of interests, especially who will receive the benefits of the undertaking. The company has promised up to 300 jobs for local landholders. The custom owners, however, say there are to be 600. The kind of work likely, for a start, is bound to be large-scale bush clearance, and it is certain to be hard work of a kind largely unknown to Vanuatu’s subsistence gardeners. ECO2 Forests is a publicly listed company in the United States. Forestry (renewable resource lumber) and carbon credits are what they say they are concerned with in Australia and South America, as well as Vanuatu. Vanuatu authorities are disturbed that the public disclosure information of the company (as evidenced in the missing acreage) falls short of the actual situation. ISLANDS BUSINESS spoke to the University of the South Pacific’s Dr Justin Rose, who teaches environmental legislation at the Law School of the Emalus Campus, Port Vila, concerning the ECO2 Forests project. He said: “This project proposal, together with recent reports coming out of Papua New Guinea about carbon traders seeking to quickly acquire the sequestration rights to forests from rural landowners, highlights the need for the Vanuatu government to give some urgent consideration as to how best to regulate forest carbon sequestration projects, both the afforestation and avoided deforestation ones. “The aim should be to engage in the international financial mechanisms while ensuring that projects genuinely sequester CO2, that benefits are equitably shared with local people, and that negative social and environmental impacts are minimised

WANTED - the truth behind climate funds

03 September 2010

The Netherlands government launched a web site at the informal Geneva Dialogue on climate finance held over two days in Geneva 2-3 September 2010. The website aims to provide transparency over sources and allocation of climate finance commitments. So far six European countries, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and UK, and have detailed some fast-track climate related information on the new website. Eurodad and Publish What You Fund responded to the Netherlands initiative with the following press release.

PRESS RELEASE

Civil society organisations are calling for greater progress on making information on climate finance available, following the Netherlands’ launch of a new website to track climate finance at the ministerial meeting on climate finance taking place in Genevatoday.

“We welcome efforts to improve access to information on climate finance commitments, but the new web site does not meet the minimum standards of transparency needed to ensure that these funds can be tracked and used effectively,” says Nora Honkaniemi, Advocacy Officer at the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad).

At the climate summit in Copenhagen last December, developed countries pledged to provide developing countries with $US30 billion to finance adaptation and mitigation in developing countries during the period 2010-2012. In the run up to Copenhagen, the EU and its 27 Member States committed to funding totalling €2.4 billion annually and recognized that “a Copenhagen agreement will require a gradual but significant scaling up of both public and private financial flows to developing countries.” [1]

”European governments must build on the Netherlands government initiative and take the lead in swiftly integrating global transparency standards for climate finance with the emerging International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standards to generate comprehensive, timely and comparable information,” says Karin Christiansen, Director of Publish What You Fund. This must be a first crucial step to ensure that money is effective and additional, that donors can be held accountable for their climate and aid promises, and that citizens in Europe and around the world know the truth behind the climate funds for impoverished countries.

To ensure that European governments live up to their promises and do not double count previous aid commitments against their new climate finance pledges, comprehensive, comparable and timely information standards are urgently needed.

These standards must:

• Define what qualifies as climate financing to ensure that it genuinely contributes to achieving climate objectives and does not undermine development goals;

• Define what is new and additional – clarify which funds were already pledged before Copenhagen and how these are additional to previous ODA commitments; [2]

• Be compatible with the emerging aid transparency standards being developed in the International Aid Transparency Initiative in order to enable the tracking, coordination, effectiveness and additionality of climate finance; and to ensure the quality of the delivered funds meet internationally agreed aid effectiveness commitments, UN criteria and G77 demands;

• Ensure that the information provided is comprehensive, covering the full range of channels, policy, terms and conditions, allocations and disbursements, details of transactions, and governance arrangements of the climate funds.

Contacts:

Nora Honkaniemi, Advocacy Officer, Eurodad – tel. 00 32 28944645

Karin Christiansen, Director, Publish What you Fund – tel. 00 44 20 7022 1909

Notes to Editors:

Eurodad (the European Network on Debt and Development) is a network of 59 non-governmental organisations from 19 European countries who work together on issues related to debt, development finance and poverty reduction. The Eurodad network offers a platform for exploring issues, collecting intelligence and ideas, and undertaking collective advocacy.

Publish What You Fund is the global campaign for aid transparency, advocating for a significant increase in the availability and accessibility of comprehensive, timely and comparable aid information , with the World Bank, U.S., and EU as our main targets – http://publishwhatyoufund.org/

The International Aid Transparency Initiative, know as IATI, was launched by the Netherlands Minister for Development in Accra Ghana in Oct 2008. It “aims to make information about aid spending easier to access, use and understand”. Its main function is to develop a global standard for the disclosure of aid information. The 18 IATI signatories are: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany (BMZ), Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (SDC), UK, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the European Commission (EC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), Hewlett Foundation.

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[1] EU position for the Copenhagen Climate Conference, Council conclusions 21 October 2009, 14790/09

[2] Disaggregate how much funding is additional to current ODA levels and how much is additional to the ODA targets pledged for 2010 and 2015 (0.56% GNI: EU collective target for 2010; and 0.7% GNI: EU target for 2015).

Australian Greens Seek ‘Fast, Furious’ Climate Steps

Bloomberg

September 07, 2010, 4:00 AM EDT

(Updates with Gillard retaining power in second paragraph.)By James Paton

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Australian Greens plan “fast and furious” action to establish a climate change committee and impose a price on carbon emissions under a government led by the Labor Party’s Julia Gillard.

“This is the best political opportunity collectively we’ve ever had,” Christine Milne, deputy leader of the Greens Party, said in Sydney today before Gillard won the support needed to form a government. With Labor retaining power, “this committee will be on track fast and furious,” Milne said.

Two independent lawmakers, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, backed Gillard’s minority government after the closest election in 70 years left neither of the main parties with a majority. Gillard, 48, gained support last week from the Greens and agreed in exchange to establish a climate change committee made up of lawmakers and scientists with the aim of setting a penalty for carbon emissions.

The forum’s goal is to determine the best way to introduce a carbon price, not to “decide whether climate change is real,” Milne said. Australia will be able to implement a carbon price with Gillard as prime minister, Milne said. “I would like that as soon as possible.”

Lawmakers plan to decide by the end of this month on how many members the climate committee will have and how it will work, she said. “We’ve had the debate about whether we need a carbon price and in my view there is a consensus by anyone who understands it,” she said. “What we haven’t had a proper debate about is how best to deliver it.”

‘Completely Inappropriate’

The Labor-Green proposal of a climate change committee composed only of people who back a carbon price is “completely inappropriate,” Australian opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt told reporters earlier today at the conference.

“I don’t believe parliament has ever, or should ever, have a committee where there is a belief test as a prerequisite,” he said. “Parliament should be a place for free thought.”

Both Gillard’s Labor Party and Tony Abbott’s Liberal- National coalition targeted a 5 percent cut in emissions by 2020. While the Labor Party delayed plans to introduce an emissions trading system until after 2012, Abbott opposed a carbon price. Neither party won the 76 seats in the Aug. 21 election needed to form a government.

Abbott advocated a fund to encourage businesses and farmers to curb carbon emissions and a 15,000-strong “green army” to repair environmental damage.

‘Contested Ground’

Hunt today reiterated support for the A$2.55 billion ($2.3 billion) emissions reduction fund, saying it would provide certainty compared with the lack of clarity of when emissions trading would begin.

While there is “common ground” surrounding Australia’s target of generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, there will continue to be “contested ground” over how to tackle climate issues, Hunt said.

Windsor, who has a farm in his northern New South Wales electorate of New England, said today there are “enormous opportunities” for rural Australia to benefit from developing renewable energy sources.

Gazprom, Shell and Clinton Fdn Back Rainforest Carbon Deal in Borneo

The following article, though one week old, is very important, as it is the first REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) project to be approved through the “Voluntary Carbon Standard Program”. It allows the privatization of forests in Indonesia for use as carbon offsets by Shell and Gazprom–enabling them to continue polluting. This project could also signal the future of REDD, with forest carbon offset projects brought online through bilateral agreements organized outside of the UN’s Climate Convention.

It is clear to us that putting forests in the carbon market will not solve climate change, but will certainly create economic incentives to rob Indigenous and marginalized peoples of their forested lands.—GJEP

mongabay.com

August 24, 2010

A forest conservation project backed by Shell, Gazprom Market and Trading and the Clinton Foundation on the island of Borneo has won approval under a carbon accounting standard, reports Reuters.

The Rimba Raya project, which covers nearly 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of peat forest in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province, could reduce projected emissions by 75 million metric tons over the next 30 years, generating hundreds of millions in carbon finance under the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) program backed by the U.N. and World Bank.

Rimba Raya is being developed by Hong Kong-based InfiniteEARTH in partnership with Orangutan Foundation International, which aims to protect red apes and their habitat. The project avoids carbon dioxide emissions by protecting peatlands and forests, which sequester massive amounts of carbon in their vegetation and soils.

Draining and clearing of peat forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

According to Reuters, Rimba Raya marks “a milestone” in the development of a global market in forest carbon credits.

“The project has earned the first-ever approval of an accounting method for measuring the reduction in carbon emissions under REDD,” wrote David Fogarty and Sunanda Creagh for Reuters. “The Voluntary Carbon Standard program, the most respected standard for voluntary carbon offsets, approved the methodology after it passed a mandated double auditing process. The project itself is now undergoing third-party validation and is likely to become the world’s first VCS-approved REDD project later this year.”

Fogarty and Creagh say Rimba Raya’s approval will pave the way for other REDD projects currently in development, reducing some of the uncertainty that has plagued the nascent forest carbon market.

Gazprom, which controls 17% of the world’s natural gas reserves and is the world’s largest gas producer, agreed in a statement.

“This is seen as a landmark moment for the carbon market,” said Gazprom in a press release.

Deforestation, forest and peatlands degradation are a larger source of greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s cars, trucks, ships, and planes combined. Tropical forest conservation is now seen as one of the most cost-effective ways to fight climate change, although the details surrounding a potential mechanism for compensating reduced deforestation remain unsettled.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0824-rimba_raya.html

CITATION: David Fogarty and Sunanda Creagh. Indonesia project boosts global forest CO2 market. Reuters. Tue Aug 24, 2010.