• Who We Are
    • The Climate Trust
    • Climate Trust Capital
    • Achievements
    • Leadership And Board Of Directors
  • What We Do
    • Action
    • Impact
    • Case Studies
  • Financials
  • Media
    • Blog
    • News & Press
The Climate Trust | Updates to Grassland Carbon Offset Protocols

Updates to Grassland Carbon Offset Protocols

Grasslands, Scorcher

Grassland carbon offset projects can provide financial support to protect vibrant ecosystems, while maintaining ranching on the project land and the communities that depend on it. To date, only 11 grassland carbon offset projects have been listed on third-party certification standards in the United States. While these ranchers want to protect their lands from conversion, for some, the economics do not pan out. Recent releases and changes to two grassland offset methodologies may help increase the number of grassland carbon offset projects.

In October 2019, the American Carbon Registry released version two of their Avoided Conversion of Grasslands and Shrublands to Crop Production methodology. This version has changes designed to lower costs and streamline project implementation. For example, to reduce project development costs, a project property appraisal is not required to determine threat of conversion to cropland. Instead, the threat of conversion to cropland can be determined by historical county data. Verification costs are also reduced under version two because the verifier can forego the site visit by using supporting documentation to determine that the property is a grassland. Furthermore, the second version adds flexibility in quantification of emission reductions.

Also, in October 2019, The Climate Action Reserve released the Canadian version of their Grassland Protocol. This expands the possible territory and scalability of grassland offset projects to a new area with a few differences in the protocol from the United States version. Early adopters will be allowed to enter the market with a project start date as early as October 2017 if the project is submitted by October 2019. This protocol will also allow flexibility in credit accounting. Either Tonne-Tonne or Tonne-Year accounting will be accepted. The U.S. protocol uses Tonne-Tonne accounting for 100-year projects that receive full offset volume after the buffer discount. Tonne-year accounting allows a project owner to agree to a shorter commitment than 100 years in exchange for a discounted number of credits. The Canadian protocol allows for project commitments between 20 and 100 years. The shorter the time commitment, the greater deduction on offset volume received. This deduction reduces as the time commitment to the project increases and thus risk of reversal decreases.

There are many groups such as The Climate Trust, that are qualified to develop these projects using the above protocols. These new protocols will certainly increase the volume of available voluntary offsets.  In addition, multiple states are exploring implementing cap and trade programs that may allow grassland carbon offset projects, as seen in the previously introduced bill in Oregon and the inclusion of cap and trade in New Mexico’s climate change strategy plan. Prices for compliance-grade offsets are significantly higher than voluntary offsets, which would increase the pace of grassland project development and allow smaller projects to become viable.

Tags
Adaptation
Aggregation
American Carbon Registry
Biochar
Blue Carbon
C-AGG
California Air Resources Board
California Carbon Info
Cap and Invest
carbon offset standards
Carbon Pricing
Carbon-Pulse
Clean Power Plan
Climate Action Reserve
Climate Bonds
Conservation Finance Network
Corporate Social Responsibility
CORSIA
Culture
Dairy Digester
Ecosystem Marketplace
Edible Portland
Energy Central
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Justice
EPAF
Farm Power Northwest
GreenBiz
IPCC
Job Announcement
Leadership
Low Carbon Fuel Standard
Milestone
Oregon Carbon Dioxide Standard
Oregon Clean Fuels Program
Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council
Oregon Global Warming Commission
Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy
Paris
Portland General Electric
REDD
Renewable Fuel Standard
Renewable Identification Numbers
Request For Proposal
RGGI
Rice
Risk Management
Scientific American
Social Cost of Carbon
Supply Chain
Sustainable Business Oregon
Triple Pundit
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Verified Carbon Standard
Western Climate Initiative
Recent Comments
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Proud Member Partners in Diversity
  • DONATE
  • CAREERS
  • CONTACT

©2020 The Climate Trust. Crafted by ILLUSIO