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New policy memo on transitioning to global warming potential values from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
Errata and Clarifications released for the Mexico Forest Protocol Version 1.5
Join us Feb 7 for a webinar: The Role of Offsets and Economic Development Opportunities in Oregon’s Clean Energy Jobs Bill (SB1070)
Making the New Year greener – our New Year’s resolutions for 2018
We’re happy to share our green New Year’s resolutions for 2018! As environmentalists, we try to be as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible. Upon the dawn of the new year, we’ll be ramping up our efforts by adding additional green initiatives to our lifestyles.
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My green resolution is to not accept any plastic bag when I purchase anything from a store. Instead, I will make sure to bring my own reusable bags.
– Bety |
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Making my entire yard more sustainable: • Continuing installation of a micro tubing watering system to reduce watering (and energy) requirements • Planting drought tolerant plants, with the idea of shutting off or severely limiting water once established. • Using a top-of-the-line energy efficient pool cover to reduce water losses • Maintaining my aging solar thermal system • Maximizing efficiency of super-efficient pool pump • Continuing switch to all LED lighting as older technologies break and need replacement • Install more motion sensitive light switches • Continue my hopeless training of the rest of the family to watch their energy consumtion • Ride my bike more – Craig |
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I guess mine would be to be as environmentally conscious as possible when purchasing items for the baby! Purchasing products that are sustainable and reusable, products made from recycled materials, and when possible, compostable products.
– Heather |
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My green New Years resolution is to become “zero-waste,” aka not producing any trash or waste by using reusables, saying no to plastic/single-use disposables, etc.
– Nancy |
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This year I plan to get more involved in local environmental initiatives like beach cleanups and tree plantings.
– Amy |
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I’ll try bringing my own tupperware when I eat out at restaurants to avoid using disposable containers for any leftovers.
– Rhey |
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Go from 2-car family to one-car family and utilize public transportation as much as possible.
– Stephanie |
Announcing the First Issuance of Forest Carbon Credits to San Juan Lachao under the Climate Action Reserve’s Mexico Forest Protocol
The San Juan Lachao forest project in Oaxaca, Mexico is near and dear to the hearts of Reserve staff members and others who worked on the project. It is a truly special example of how we can work together to address climate change and create real, lasting social, environmental and economic benefits for local communities. We’re very pleased to share the story of the project through the below perspectives from partners ICICO, ANCE and the City of Palo Alto, as well as the perspective from the Reserve.
Climate Action Reserve:
By John Nickerson
The Reserve would like to announce that, at long last, it has issued 17,063 CRTs (net of buffer pool) to San Juan Lachao, Oaxaca for two reporting periods. The project in San Juan Lachao began in 2014 and became our proving grounds to finalize the development of our Mexico Forest Protocol, the quantification and verification guidance documents, and our computer data management and reporting tools. This is a major milestone for our work with the Mexico Forest Protocol and it is breaking the trail for many more credits to follow. We began the work to create a Mexican Forest Protocol in 2010. We quickly encountered unique challenges in Mexico that we didn’t have in the United States, including the fact that most forest lands are communally owned and avoided emissions are managed at a jurisdictional level instead of the project level. Many additional challenges were confronted as we developed the protocol over a two-year timeframe with the assistance of many U.S. and Mexican stakeholders.
San Juan Lachao is an indigenous community in western Oaxaca. Many of the community members continue to speak Chatino, their local dialect. The economy is based largely on subsistence agriculture, with coffee and honey production, timber sales, and a little tourism providing additional economic resources. The San Juan Lachao Project is more than a committed effort to increase sequestration for climate mitigation. It has brought pride to the community. They know they are being talked about in other parts of Mexico. It has brought employment to the community as trained community members are responsible to manage the project inventory and will eventually handle other reporting aspects of the project. The project has been accompanied with biodiversity studies and has raised awareness within the community of the wildlife relationships associated with a well-managed forest. The forest carbon project will provide an economic incentive that will enable them to achieve a more productive forest in terms of timber production by rewarding them to maintain the best-growing trees in the short term.
We are grateful for the relationships that were created during the protocol development time that we continue to treasure today. We are grateful to the The Walt Disney Company, which provided funding to help support and develop the project. We only got the project off the ground due to the commitment, vision, and support of Carlos Perez, Teresa Tattersfield and their team at ICICO (Integradora de Comunidades Indigenas y Campesinas de Oaxaca – Carlos’ consulting firm) and for their forestry expertise, organizational, and capacity-development skills. We owe thanks to Leti Espinosa of Pronatura Mexico for building relationships and facilitating the agreement with Disney. We are grateful to the men and women of San Juan Lachao, who gave us a chance to test our protocol on their landscape, engaged directly in developing the inventory, and always welcomed us into their community with exceptional warmth, good food, and a bit of mezcal. We owe a debt of gratitude to Pedro Morales of White and Case. Pedro is our pro bono attorney that helped us sort through so many legal issues. We are grateful to the City of Palo Alto, who is working with the community to purchase the first issuance of credits. A huge thanks to Cecilia Simon and Amy Kessler to get to this milestone. Their perseverance and dedication to making the protocol function is why we got to this milestone.
ICICO:
ICICO, or the Integradora de Comunidades Indigenas y Campesinas de Oaxaca A.C., is a non-profit organization based in Oaxaca, which provides technical assistance to rural communities. ICICO was the Project Developer for the San Juan Lachao project.
La comunidad de San Juan Lachao Pueblo Nuevo, está marcando un precedente en la región, en estado, en país y en el ámbito internacional, no solo por ser la primera comunidad en realizar un proyecto forestal piloto utilizando el protocolo forestal para México de la Reserva de Acción Climática, por lo consiguiente la primera comunidad en realizar la venta de bono de carbono en el mercado voluntario internacional, contribuyendo de esta manera a la mitigación del cambio climático.
Cabe resaltar que este no es un esfuerzo aislado, es un esfuerzo conjunto entre los dueños del bosque, las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y la Ciudad de Palo Alto, quien en esta ocasión es la entidad que está comprando los bonos generados en el proyecto forestal de captura de carbono de la Comunidad.
En este sentido, queremos reconocer el papel importante que Disney ha jugado en este proyecto, así como a la Ciudad de Palo Alto por el esfuerzo en la adquisición de 17,000 toneladas de CO2 eq., a un precio justo, quisiéramos que municipios del país tomaran como ejemplo esta iniciativa y realizaran la neutralización de sus emisiones para estar a la vanguardia en el tema ambiental.
ANCE:
ANCE, or the Associacion Nacional de Normalizacion y Certifiacion, A.C., is a nonprofit entity in Mexico, which evaluates and certifies compliance with national and international standards and regulations. ANCE was the verification body for the pilot project of San Juan Lachao.
La participación de ANCE como organismo verificador del Protocolo Forestal para México de CAR surgió del interés que tiene la Asociación por atender varios aspectos en torno al manejo responsable de los recursos naturales en México; particularmente desde el área del manejo sustentable de los bosques.
A lo largo de 7 años ANCE ha sido el único organismo mexicano acreditado por la Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación (ema) para la certificación de la norma NMX-AA-143-SCFI-2015 (2008 hasta diciembre de 2015), la cual es uno de los esquemas con los que cuentan la SEMARNAT y la CONAFOR para evaluar el cumplimiento adecuado de las leyes y normas mexicanas que permitan el desarrollo forestal sustentable en el país.
La experiencia de estos años, cristalizada en la certificación de 183 predios forestales a lo largo de 11 Estados, se traduce en 1,060,478.11 ha bajo manejo sustentable, uno de ellos es la Comunidad de San Juan Lachao, Oaxaca.
Cuando nos invitaron al primer curso de capacitación sobre el Protocolo Forestal para México CAR que dio la Reserva en Ciudad de México, nos convencimos de las ventajas que representaría tener proyectos con un esquema reconocido internacionalmente, con garantía de estar verificando una captura de CO2 real, transparente, con salvaguardas sociales y ambientales adecuadas a la legislación mexicana y teniendo en primer lugar el desarrollo de las comunidades rurales. De esta manera, el involucrarnos con la verificación del Proyecto de San Juan Lachao, hemos recorrido un camino de mejora continua en la aplicación y verificación del Protocolo Forestal para México, desde su versión 1.2 hasta la reciente versión 1.5, lo que nos ha permitido conocer los aspectos técnicos, sociales y ambientales que implica el desarrollo de un proyecto como este, el cual es pionero en México.
A partir de la experiencia con la verificación del proyecto de San Juan Lachao también hemos podido sugerir la participación de algunos predios certificados con la norma mexicana, invitando a productores y Técnicos en los estados de Puebla, Hidalgo, México, Durango, Jalisco y Michoacán, así como a las delegaciones estatales de CONAFOR, PROBOSQUE y a la industria mexicana a conocer el protocolo CAR con la esperanza de que más proyectos se sumen para tener una red bien establecida de proyectos forestales de mitigación del cambio climático previo al inicio oficial del Mercado Voluntario de Carbono en México.
Puntualizando, tenemos un gran ejemplo en la comunidad chatina de San Juan Lachao, Oaxaca; dignos representantes de las comunidades campesinas mexicanas, que a pesar de ser consideradas las más rezagadas del país, pueden darnos sorpresas gratas con ejemplos de innovación y compromiso con sus recursos naturales y su comunidad siendo pioneros en el manejo sustentable y conservación de los bosques.
Ojalá que el proyecto de San Juan Lachao sirva como referencia fidedigna para que muchas comunidades más se unan a este esfuerzo.
Palo Alto:
By the City of Palo Alto
On Monday, December 4, the City Council will consider a resolution approving an agreement to purchase “carbon offsets” to help Palo Alto maintain its net zero carbon footprint. The City has been working with its sister city, Oaxaca, Mexico on various sustainability issues and during that process learned about a forestry project that produces high-quality carbon offsets managed by the Integrative Organization of Oaxaca Indigenous and Agricultural Communities (ICICO). Carbon offsets are a form of trade to fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this case, carbon offsets are generated through monitored and verified increases to forest stock that result in carbon being sequestered in trees rather than released to the atmosphere.
The City will purchase 17,000 tons of carbon offsets from ICICO. Palo Alto’s $136,000 investment is supporting conservation and restoration activities within 5,900 acres of native forest and will neutralize about 10 percent of the City’s annual emissions from natural gas use. The remaining offsets will be purchased from projects here in the U.S.
Revenue from the sale of carbon offsets through ICICO’s program also provides multiple co-benefits for the Oaxacan community including fire protection, tree care, fresh water spring recharge, and transportation and equipment for local schools.
Palo Alto has been providing 100 percent carbon neutral electricity since 2013. In July, the City also began offsetting 100 percent of its natural gas carbon omissions through carbon reduction projects like this one in Mexico. You can learn more about that here.
The “carbon offsets” generated by the Oaxaca forestry project are similar to those contemplated by the Carbon Neutral Natural Gas Plan that was adopted by the City in 2016. The Mexican forestry project protocol was developed by Climate Action Reserve, one of the largest offset registries in North America that is used by the California Air Resources Board. You can read the full staff report here to learn more.
Errata and Clarifications released for the U.S. Livestock Project Protocol Versions 3.0 and 4.0
Errata and Clarifications released for the Grassland Project Protocol Versions 1.0 and 2.0
MEDIA ADVISORY: Delegation of 11 U.S. States and Four Governors Arrives in Bonn for COP 23 Climate Conference
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact – Bonn
Rhey Lee, +1-415-735-0301, rhey@climateactionreserve.org
Contacts – North America
Jennifer Weiss, +1-312-714-0713, jennifer@climateactionreserve.org
Alex Carr, +1-778-384-8711, acarr@theclimateregistry.org
Chris Coil, +1-202-661-6672, coil@georgetownclimate.org
BONN, GERMANY – COP 23 is expected to be historic, in part because of the unprecedented presence and impact anticipated from U.S. states. The Climate Registry (TCR), Climate Action Reserve and Georgetown Climate Center are hosting a COP23 delegation of 11 U.S. states, including four governors: Governor Jerry Brown (California), Governor Kate Brown (Oregon), Governor Jay Inslee (Washington) and Governor Terry McAuliffe (Virginia).
Please join us in Bonn for events that showcase state climate action and impact, including:
Monday, November 13
Subnational Action
Speakers include:
• Welcome remarks: Governor Kate Brown, Oregon
• Matt Rodriquez, Secretary for Environmental Protection, California Environmental Protection Agency
• Chris Davis, Senior Advisor, Energy and Carbon Markets, Office of Governor Jay Inslee, Washington
• Dr. Rodolfo Lacy, Undersecretary of Planning and Environmental Policy, SEMARNAT
• Hon. Chris Ballard, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Ontario
When: 9:30 am – 10:30 a.m.
Where: IETA Pavilion
Subnational Strategies in North America for Meeting Paris Commitments
As laboratories for innovation, sub-national leaders have been implementing a wide variety of approaches to reduce emissions. This session will bring together several leading players to discuss various policy approaches, including the role of market-based mechanisms, and the extent to which policies can and should be harmonized with other jurisdictions.
Speakers include:
• Governor Jerry Brown, California
• Governor Kate Brown, Oregon
• Governor Jay Inslee, Washington
• Hon. Chris Ballard, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Ontario
• Hon. George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, British Columbia
• Dr. Rodolfo Lacy, Undersecretary of Planning and Environmental Policy, SEMARNAT
When: 3:00pm – 4:30 pm
Where: UN Bonn Zone, Room 12
Press Conference: North American Subnational Climate Collaboration and Progress
A press conference featuring U.S. Governors affirming state commitments to combating climate change. Speakers include Oregon Governor Kate Brown and government representatives from California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, Maryland and Vermont.
When: 5:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Where: UN Bula Zone, Room 2
Tuesday, November 14
U.S. Governors’ Panel: State Actions, Goals and Collaborations
Governors from the Pacific Northwest will discuss state climate action, including the Pacific Coast Collaborative. Speakers include:
• Governor Kate Brown, Oregon
• Governor Jay Inslee, Washington (invited)
• Hon. George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, British Columbia
• Sam Lemmo, Administrator, Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, Hawaii
• Matt Rodriquez, California Secretary for Environmental Protection, California Environmental Protection Agency
• Stephanie Zawistowski, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith, Minnesota
When: 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Where: US Climate Action Center, Paris Room
Climate and Clean Energy Policy in the U.S.: State Leaders Speak Out
Governors and other subnational leaders who will share their efforts to curb emissions, prepare for climate impacts, and work together in new alliances across states, sectors and regions.
Speakers include:
• Opening remarks: Governor Kate Brown, Oregon and Governor Jay Inslee, Washington
• Jared Snyder, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Air Resources, Climate Change and Energy, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Katie Theoharides, Assistant Secretary of Climate Change, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
• Ben Grumbles, Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment
• Taryn Finnessey, Senior Climate Change Specialist, Colorado Department of Natural Resources
When: 4:45 pm – 6:15 pm
Where: UN Bonn Zone, Room 2
Thursday, November 16
Subnational Action on Climate Change with International Partners: Public/Private Collaboration
Subnational leaders will discuss a wide variety of policy approaches, including how to harmonize policies with other jurisdictions. This panel will focus on how states and the private sector work together to reduce GHG emissions, promote energy efficiency, demand response, storage and/or renewables, and more.
Speakers include:
• Ken Alex, Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Office of Planning and Research, California
• Scott Glenn, Director, Office of Environmental Quality Control, Hawaii
• Jared Snyder, Deputy Commissioner, Air Resources, Climate Change and Energy, New York Department of Environmental Conservation
• Katie Sullivan, Managing Director, IETA
• Stephanie Zawistowski, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith, Minnesota
When: 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
Where: US Climate Action Center, Fiji Room
Subnational Action: Regional and Cross-border Collaboration
This panel of U.S. state, Canadian provincial and other delegates will focus on regional and cross-border collaboration (such as RGGI, the Western Climate Initiative, and the Pacific Coast Collaborative) and provide an update on current efforts.
Speakers include:
• Hon. Chris Ballard, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Ontario
• Sarah Hofmann, Commissioner, Vermont Public Utility Commission
• Jared Snyder, Deputy Commissioner, Air Resources, Climate Change and Energy, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Kathleen Theoharides, Assistant Secretary of Climate Change, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Massachusetts
When: 2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Where: US Climate Action Center, Fiji Room
Follow TCR, Climate Action Reserve and Georgetown Climate Center on social media. Twitter: @theclimatereg, @climatereserve, @Climate_Center