Reserve Featured at COP17 Events

Linda Adams, Chair of the Reserve Board of Directors, and Derik Broekhoff, VP Policy, will be speaking at several COP 17 side events in Durban, including two official UN side events and a session in the U.S. Center.

Friday, December 2
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Blyde River Room, Durban ICC

Official UN side event – Effective Trading Systems to Facilitate Linking and Complement Multilateral Actions: A discussion of national and state government trading scheme designs and their potential for linking.

In the absence of a single international market, state and national governments are taking the lead in developing emissions trading schemes around the world with unique design features that create complexity for linkages. In a cross-cutting panel discussion, panelists from NGOs, governments, and the private sector will examine how these various programs have addressed caps and allowance allocation issues, the role of offsets, and REDD as potential areas of both divergence and congruity. Topics will include possible strategies to implement effective trading systems that facilitate linking and complement broader multilateral action.

Hosted by the Climate Action Reserve and Environmental Defense Fund

Tuesday, December 6
3:30 pm – 4:45 pm
Standard Bank, Auditorium

Three Dimensional Chess: Advancing REDD+ in Mexico

California is contemplating the crediting of reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) in other countries, including Mexico, as part of its recently adopted cap-and-trade program. REDD+ initiatives aim to create value for the effective conservation of forests by addressing the fundamental economic and social drivers of deforestation and degradation. To do so, successful REDD+ initiatives will require coordinated action from multiple actors responsible for the health of forests including national and sub-national governments as well as private land owners and indigenous peoples. The Climate Action Reserve will highlight efforts being undertaken at multiple levels in Mexico to design REDD+ programs linked to the California carbon market and beyond.

Moderator: Derik Broekhoff, Vice President of Policy, Climate Action Reserve

Speakers:

Christoph Neitzel, PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Economics, UNAM
Jose Carlos Fernandez, Head of the International Affairs and Financial Development Unit, CONAFOR
Michelle Passero, Senior Climate Policy Advisor, The Nature Conservancy

Wednesday, December 7
10:15 am – 11:30 am
Standard Bank, Board Room

The World’s Second Largest Carbon Market: California and the North American Regional Program

Amidst stalemate and inaction in Washington, North America’s regional markets are coming into their own. California–the world’s 7th largest economy–is on track to launch the world’s second largest carbon market in 2012, with the first full compliance year in 2013. The potential addition of British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec would not only form North America’s first international carbon market, known as the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), but also provide critical liquidity. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States of the Regional Greenhouse Gas

Initiative (RGGI) are currently reviewing the program and considering tightening the cap, which could correct the current over-supply problem. This session will explore the latest developments in North America’s growing regional markets.

Moderator: David Hunter, US Director, IETA

Speakers:

Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board
Linda Adams, Chairman of the Board, Climate Action Reserve and Founding President, R20-Regions of Climate Action
Jelena Semjanovic, Senior Analyst, Point Carbon
Nikki Roy, Vice President for Strategic Outreach, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES)

Thursday, December 8
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
U.S. Center

The federal government and state and regional agencies and organizations are continuing to move forward on a sensible path to address greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The U.S. domestic climate change side event will highlight domestic regulatory, programmatic, and voluntary activities (in place and planned) that are occurring at the federal, regional and state level and by NGOs. We will showcase a set of key actions and activities, including the light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas rule, the medium and heavy greenhouse gas rule, the greenhouse gas mandatory reporting rule, GHG permitting, and the renewable fuel standard. We will also highlight activities coming out of California (the California Air Resources Board and the Climate Action Reserve) and by The Climate Registry.

Thursday, December 8
4:45 pm – 6:15 pm
DEC, Hex River

Official UN side event – Understanding the impact of GHG mitigation activities

Companies and all levels of government want to understand the real impact of GHG reduction actions. Leaders from the public and private sectors share examples of actions they are taking to mitigate GHG emissions, highlight tools needed to quantify these, and provide perspectives on priorities for making the greatest impact.

Moderators:

David Rosenheim, Executive Director, The Climate Registry
Misti Duvall, National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA)

Speakers:

Linda Adams, President, R20
Dr. Thomas Becker, Vice President for Government Affairs, BMW
Larry Greene, National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA)
Minister Terry Lake, Minister of Environment, Government of British Columbia
Mary Nichols, Chairman, California Air Resources Board

Errata and Clarifications released for the Article 5 ODS Project Protocol Version 1.0 and U.S. Landfill Version 2.1

Public comment period open for draft Mexico Forest Protocol Version 1.0

Climate Action Offsetter: NW Natural customers get Smart (Energy)

written by The Climate Trust

“Use less. Offset the rest.” That’s the slogan for NW Natural’s Smart Energy voluntary offset program, now in its fifth year.

And the Smart Energy symbol? A cow (more on that later).

NW Natural delivers natural gas to customers in the most populous areas of Oregon and SW Washington.

Company leaders know their customers expect utility providers to be local leaders in environmental protection and energy efficiency. So NW Natural became the nation’s first stand-alone gas (that is, not affiliated with an electric company) to help customers offset greenhouse gas emissions associated with their natural gas use.

In 2007, the company launched Smart Energy. Residential customers can choose to pay a monthly flat fee of $6 or a per-therm option of just over a penny to purchase carbon offsets. Businesses can participate for as little as $10 a month.

Smart Energy works with The Climate Trust to ensure offsets retired on behalf of customers are high quality. Through The Climate Trust, Smart Energy is investing in biodigesters on Northwest dairy farms. Here’s the logic (and where the cows come in):

• A typical cow produces 120 pounds of waste each day.
• Decomposing manure creates methane – 21 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide.
• Biodigesters trap methane while creating an on-demand renewable energy source: biogas.

As of October 2011, 13,744 NW Natural customers were participating in Smart Energy. Their investments will keep more than 115,000 tons of emissions from reaching the atmosphere – the amount created by more than 1,300 auto trips from Portland to New York.

NW Natural still encourages their customers to conserve energy. But now they can go one step farther toward protecting the environment.

Use less. Offset the rest.

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Would you like to be featured in the Reserve newsletter and earn a free reusable Reserve water bottle? Each monthly newsletter, the Reserve will showcase an individual or organization who has retired CRTs to offset their emissions. To submit an entry, please share a few paragraphs (up to 350 words) about you and your decision to offset. Photos are welcome! Featured submissions in the newsletter will earn water bottles, and all submitted entries will be posted on the Reserve web blog. Email your entries to: rhey@climateactionreserve.org.

This is an excellent opportunity to highlight your environmental stewardship and advancement of climate solutions. This is also an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of outstanding GHG reduction projects.

Errata and Clarifications released for the U.S. ODS Project Protocol Version 1.0

Errata and Clarifications released for U.S. Landfill V4.0, V3.0, V2.1, V2.0; U.S. Livestock V3.0, V2.2, V2.1; and Organic Waste Digestion V2.0

Revised Program Manual is now available

Got Carbon-Neutral Milk?

Milk sourced from cows is a popular and nutritious beverage enjoyed the world over. According to the National Dairy Council, milk is filled with nine essential nutrients that benefit our health, including calcium, protein, potassium, phosphorus, vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin A, riboflavin and niacin.

When making purchasing decisions for milk, we face a variety of choices: whole milk, reduced fat, low fat, skim, organic, raw, strawberry and even chocolate … and we could also opt for rice milk, soy milk or almond milk.

Another important consideration you may not have yet contemplated in the dairy aisle – but should – is the carbon footprint of the milk production process. Cows are a significant source of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) 20 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Dairy farmers can reduce their carbon footprint through the installation of new technologies, specifically anaerobic (without oxygen) biodigesters.

Anaerobic dairy digesters are enclosed tanks that create an oxygen-less environment. The digester facilitates the breakdown of manure and converts it into renewable energy and a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

One example of a successful dairy emissions reduction project is the Farm Power Rexville Regional Digester in Mount Vernon, Washington. Two local dairy farms, Harmony Dairy and Beaver Marsh Farms, participate in the program with a combined 1500 Holstein cows. The dairies produce about 100 cubic meters/day of manure volume, 50 cubic meters/day of wastewater volume and 30 cubic meters/day of cow bedding and food processing waste.

The Rexville digester pumps cow waste from the two dairies into a one million gallon tank. The waste is heated to 100 degrees, causing bacteria to grow, which produces methane. The methane from the tank is sent to an internal combustion engine that creates 750 kW of power, which is enough to power 500 homes annually.

In addition to renewable energy, the digesters produce a nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer and pathogen free fiber straw that can be used for bedding. Not having to buy straw or sawdust for cow bedding has saved the Washington farms nearly $100,000. The project also earns carbon offsets from the Climate Action Reserve, which can be sold to help other organizations meet their sustainability goals.

This process reduces the amount of methane from cow manure that is released into the atmosphere, which benefits our global climate.

Milk does a body good. And biodigesters do the climate good.

This blog post supports Blog Action Day 2011, an international effort to focus bloggers around the world on one important global topic on the same day. This year, Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day and so the theme is FOOD. #BAD11

Public comment period open for draft Rice Cultivation Project Protocol Version 1.0 – public workshop on October 24

Nitric Acid Production Project Protocol Version 2.0 was adopted by the Reserve Board on September 28, 2011