The Katoomba Group's Ecosystem Marketplace

CCAR seeking new project methodologies

The California Climate Action Registry has issued an RFP for new GHG reduction project “typologies” (i.e., methodologies for new project types). CCAR has internally identified ten potential project types on which contractors are invited to develop issue papers, ranging from tidal wetland restoration to rapid bus transit. Interested contractors are free to submit a cover letter, brief proposal, and a sample of their work by August 1, 2008. Winning applicants will be notified by September 1. More specifications are provided in the press release, link available below.

– View the press release

World Bank fund finances REDD readiness activities in fourteen countries

At their Paris meeting last week, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Finance (FCPF) Steering Committee announced the fourteen recipients of FCPF financing for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects in tropical forests. The FCPF was launched last year to jump start funding to REDD projects, which are presently not an approved emissions reduction activity type under the Kyoto Protocol but which are becoming increasingly popular in the voluntary market space. Of the fourteen developing countries chosen, six are located in Africa, five are in Latin America, and three are in Asia.

– Read the MongaBay article

Calculator confusion: Just how big IS your carbon footprint?

Even for the most dedicated environmentalists, deciding which carbon calculator to use when determining your carbon footprint has become a bewildering task. Do you go with CarbonFund.org? BeGreen? The EPA? It may come as no surprise that entering the same inputs into different calculators generates very different results depending on the calculator used, as a University of Washington (UW) study recently found. To test just how wide the spread can be, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Lisa Stiffler and her husband entered their utility use and transportation habits into ten calculators, and discovered that their combined carbon footprints varied by as much as 38,766 pounds of carbon dioxide depending on the calculator used. [For comparison's sake, the average car in the US spews 10,000 tons of C02 annually.] While it has been argued that there’s value in using a carbon calculator to identify areas of improvement, such wide variation in calculator results suggests that many people are making lifestyle changes or offset donations under false assumptions.

– Read the Seattle Post Intellincer article

Got BC-based offsets?

Do you sell offsets based in British Columbia? If so, you may be eligible to supply offsets to the BC government, which is required by law to become carbon neutral by 2010. The Pacific Carbon Trust, recently formed by the BC government to obtain offsets on behalf of all public sector organizations in the province, has issued request for information (RFI) to identify interest among eligible providers and seek advice on how to structure its procurement process and future contracts. The PCT expects to purchase between 600,000 and 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually by the year 2010. Send in your written responses by August 29, 2008. Contact info is contained in the RFI, available via the link below.

– View the RFI here

REDUCE & RETIRE: THE LATEST ON CARBON NEUTRAL

The Black Sea’s view on the dark side of eco resorts

British architect Sir Norman Foster has enraged Bulgarian environmentalists by spearheading a plan to build a carbon neutral resort. Confused? While the resort is designed to run entirely on biomass power and be constructed with local materials, the Black Sea Garden resort’s five planned towns will span a very vulnerable stretch along the Black Sea. Barely any of the country’s 220-mile coastline is untouched by an “overdeveloped resort,” despite the area’s protected status for endangered species and habitats under the EU Natura 2002 program. Foster has yet to visit the site, according to UK’s The Guardian, but with further protests planned, he may find himself on the Black Sea soon to see what the fuss is about first-hand. On a separate note, Bulgaria is scheduled to kick-off its Kyoto-regulated carbon trade in September with the launch of its C02 registry.

– Read the Guardian article

Driving away emissions

Car rental company Avis Budget Group has teamed up with retail offset provider Carbon Fund to offset drivers’ emissions. Customers of Avis and Budget Rent-a-Car will soon be able to make donations to Carbonfund.org in a separate transaction when they purchase their car rental service online. Joining forces with Carbon Fund is only the latest in a series of efforts that the Avis Budget Group has made to green its operations. The company is also developing an environmental management system to measure and manage various aspects of the company’s operations, from resource depletion and conservation to odor and noise emissions. Additionally, out of a fleet of more than 375,000 vehicles, nearly two-thirds are US EPA SmartWay Certified and one-fourth is rated at 32 miles per gallon or better.

– Read the CNN article

Ireland LEED-ing the way in green building

Shamrocks and leprechauns, move over; there is a new green symbol in Ireland. According to a plan unveiled by Irish Minister John Gormley last week, new residential construction in Ireland will have to be carbon neutral and harmful GHG-free by 2013. Current standards for new home construction require a 40 percent reduction in GHG emissions and energy use over the business-as-usual scenario, with the goal of increasing to 60 percent by 2010, and carbon neutrality by 2013. “The targets set are extremely onerous, but we have to step up to the plate,” said Gormley. “We can create jobs out of this. Those who are in there first will have the most to benefit."

– Read the Independent article

CLIMATE NORTH AMERICA

NYMEX and RGGI join forces to sell allowances, options, and futures

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) announced this morning that it will soon launch futures and options contracts for carbon emission allowances generated under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort to reduce carbon emissions by ten northeastern and mid-Atlantic US states. NYMEX is the world’s largest physical commodity exchange, and it will begin trading RGGI allowance futures and options on Aug 24 and 26, respectively. RGGI participant states have agreed to cap carbon emissions from power plants by 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. They plan to launch quarterly auctions of allowances on September 25.

– Read the press release
– Read the Reuters article

... and Ontario makes eleven

The Western Climate Initiative (WCI) is now the largest carbon-reducing coalition of states and provinces in North America, thanks to Ontario’s recent move to join the group. The WCI was formed in 2007 by the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington with the goal of reducing emissions 15% below 2005 levels by 2020. The group now includes Utah, Montana, and the Canadian provinces Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Ontario. Plans to start a regional cap-and-trade program in 2012 were announced on Wednesday, with different sectors being phased into the plan until 2015. WCI's targets? 15% reductions below 2005 levels by 2020. Though Canada appears unlikely to meet its Kyoto reduction commitment of 6% below 1990 levels by 2012, Ontario appears to be making climate strides on multiple fronts. Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty also announced last week that the province would protect a portion of its northern boreal forest equal to half of California in size.

– Read the Sustainable Business article
– Read the Reuters article

White House releases “chilling” EPA report on climate change, public health

Two weeks ago we told you about a White House cover-up of a key EPA report linking climate change to harmful public health outcomes, and this week, we bring you news of the report's release to Congress. Members of Congress were finally allowed to see the infamously censored US EPA document linking climate change to negative public health outcomes last week. According to whistleblowers in the US Vice President’s office, the Bush Administration ignored the document, which was finalized in December of last year. The report was prepared in response to a Supreme Court ruling requiring the Bush Administration to evaluate whether GHG emissions should be regulated to protect human health. According to Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee Barbara Boxer, "It is clear. It is chilling. It is detailed. That information belongs to the American people and we must get it to them. Then they will decide whether we should act to prevent this coming crisis or sit on our hands." Boxer released a summary of the proposal to reporters last week, as she was forbidden from releasing the entire report under White House orders. Downplaying the contention, the EPA called the document “a pre-decisional draft” and “nothing new” in a Washington Post story.

– Read the Guardian article
– Read the Washington Post article

A TOUCH OF KYOTO

Lame duck? India unveils national climate action plan

The Indian government released its national climate action plan on Monday, to mixed international response. Throughout the document, the authors state explicitly that economic and social development trump all other national concerns, including climate change, and that any climate benefits of activities undertaken for social development or poverty alleviation would merely be co-benefits. The plan includes no commitments to any level of emissions reductions. However, as Dr Leena Srivastava, executive director of the Tata Energy Research Institute points out, "For a country with over 50% of its population without access to electricity, 90% of its rural population dependent on biomass to meet cooking requirements, and over 70% of its required infrastructure yet to come in place, it is unreasonable to expect targets for emission control.” Still, some in the international community have criticized the Indian government of benefiting heavily from the Clean Development Mechanism while contributing nothing toward the global goal of national emissions cuts.

– Read the National Post article
– Read the Times of India article
– Read the Pew Center summary of the plan

Japan to buy Ukraine’s excess emissions allowances

In a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed July 14, the Japanese government has agreed to buy Ukraine’s surplus emissions allowances under the Kyoto Protocol. This is the second of this kind of agreement that Japan has already made with an Eastern European country, having already signed a previous agreement with Hungary under the Green Investment Scheme. Japan is also in negotiations with Poland, Russia, and the Czech Republic to purchase their surplus allowances. The number of allowances Japan will purchase from Ukraine has not been specified.

– Read the Reuters article

CARBON FINANCE

Help wanted in finding execs for renewable energy, carbon jobs

As the carbon and renewable energy industries grow, many in the business worlds are wondering whether there is enough skilled labor to meet demand. A new study by New Energy Finance and Heidrich & Struggles found that recruitment for senior-level workers in these industries will be tough, at least for the next 12-18 months. In fact, 95% of those surveyed saying the recruitment challenge is “serious.” While concern about finding top-notch execs for increasingly green positions is nothing new, it may not be worth losing sleep over. After all, the emergence of training programs follows demand for the skills in the workforce, and both the carbon and clean energy industries are still relatively young. Responding to the challenge, a handful of business schools have developed joint degree programs or sustainability tracks, and companies have begun training future environment execs in house. According to Andy Cartland, executive director of climate change recruitment firm Acre, “If a company is saying they want someone with 20 years experience in climate-change strategy, I’m afraid they just don’t exist,” Cartland says. “There are people out there with very similar environmental experience. A good environmental engineer, for instance, can turn their hand a number of directions.”

– Read the Climate Change Corp article

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Destroy wetlands, and you may release a “carbon bomb” – scientists

Though they account for only 6% of the Earth’s surface, wetlands store 20% of the planet’s carbon, and destroying them wcould be analogous to releasing a “carbon bomb,” according to scientists attending the INTECOL International Wetlands Conference in Brazil last week. In addition to sequestering carbon, wetlands provide a host of ecosystem services such as food, water purification, aquifer recharge, and buffers against tropical storms. This myriad of services provided by wetlands has historically been overlooked; 60% of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed in the past century alone. Why such a rate of destruction? Paulo Teixeira, coordinator of the Pantanal Regional Environment Program in Brazil, calls it an image problem, saying that wetlands have historically been viewed as an impediment to human civilization.

– Read the Reuters article