This Week In V-Carbon: A Little Myth Busting

We’ve now closed data collection for our State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2015 report – thanks to the hundreds of organizations that responded to our survey this year! We’re now delving into analysis of the results, looking at the motivations of voluntary buyers; how offset prices varied by project type, location, and standard; and emerging trends among project developers and investors. Interested in supporting this work? Last year’s report has been downloaded 53,000 times and informed consultations with noteworthy private sector stakeholders ranging from IFC to Nestlé regarding the structure of their sustainability policies and offset purchases/investments, as well as governments designing carbon pricing programs – including South Africa, South Korea, and Japan. In addition to logo placement on the cover, we offer Sponsors tailored pre-launch consultations on the findings, as well as other benefits. Check out our SOVCM Sponsorship Prospectus and get in touch with Gloria Gonzalez at [email protected] for more details.

How business can tackle deforestation is part of a global series of events combatting deforestation – this stage taking place in Washington, D.C. on April 14th-15th. By bringing together the corporate practitioners and NGOs that make a difference, the conference is designed to discuss the trends, debate the issues, connect the key players and drive change in the deforestation space. Already confirmed to participate are senior executives from the likes of Target, 3M, Greenpeace, Staples, Walmart, McDonald’s, Kimberly Clark, Wilmar, Johnson & Johnson, Dunkin’ Brands and many more. You can see the full details here.

Reinvent yourself in response to changing norms. We know the world is changing – transparency is driving a multitude of stakeholders to connect the dots between brands and their positive or negative environmental and social impacts. The demand for brands to deliver purpose is soaring and resilient brand leaders will thrive. Dive deep into the brand innovation trenches with companies like Coca-Cola, Target, HP, BASF and others to explore and learn How you can successfully innovate your brand for sustainability Now. Join global business leaders for SB’15 San Diego, CA, June 1-4, 2015. www.SB15sd.com

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A multi-stakeholder collaboration between retail and wholesale firm Coop, South Pole Group and the World Wildlife Fund was able to offset the emissions of all goods that Coop imported by air to Switzerland. The collaboration invested in a project to distribute efficient cook stoves to Maasai villages in Kenya. The villagers represent the majority of employees at Oserian Flower Farm, the Kenyan-based producer of Fair Trade-certified roses. The initiative focused on reducing emissions from cook fires, reducing harmful illnesses, and halved demand for firewood in the area. The project has been validated under Gold Standard’s multi-country improved cookstove program of activities (PoA).

– Read more here

County commissioners in Hillsborough County, Florida discussed the potential for selling carbon offsets generated by restoration activities underway at county conservation lands. Commissioner Al Higginbotham proposed directing the money generated by possible offset sales toward the $2.7 million annual cost of maintaining the county’s 61,500 acres of conservation land. Hillsborough first explored the idea of carbon offsets in 2011, with the study determining that offsets should be generated as part of restoration activities on conservation lands.

– Read more here

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) surged past the $2 billion mark in total revenues generated under the Northeast carbon trading program after RGGI’s first quarterly auction of 2015. The 15.2 million allowances sold for $5.4 per ton of carbon dioxide emitted, which generated over $82 million for clean energy and consumer benefits. But the quarterly auction proceeds were the lowest since late 2012 because RGGI offered fewer allowances as emissions decline across the region. The state of New Jersey is losing out in a big way, according to U.S. Representative Frank Pallone Jr., as Governor Chris Christie’s decision to withdraw from RGGI in 2011 has cost the state an estimated $114 million, with additional projected losses of $387.1 million through 2020.

– Read more from Clean Technica here
– Read more from NJ.com here

In California and Québec’s latest joint auction, the US state raised $629.5 million, bringing California’s total revenue from 10 auctions to almost $1.6 billion, while the Canadian province raised $150 million. California’s proceeds from the auction are put into a state account dedicated to funding clean energy programs, including Governor Jerry Brown’s high-speed rail project. About 84 million allowances sold for just over $12 per tonne (tCO2e) in the second auction for the now-linked jurisdictions, which some believe could serve as a template for a global carbon market.

– Read more from Reuters here
– Read more from Business Spectator here

Montreal-based Biothermica Coal Carbon, one of the first developers to receive offsets issued by the California Air Resources Board under the new coal mine methane protocol, sold all 80,766 offsets for Canadian $860,000, or about US $672,934. If you do the math, this results in a price of about $8.3/tCO2e. While this price would be on the high side of the voluntary market, it is nearly $1.4/tCO2e below the current spot market for California carbon offsets. The offsets were generated by the destruction of methane – a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2 – emitted by the ventilation system of Jim Walter Resources’ underground coal mine located in Alabama.

– Read more from ICIS here
– Read more from PR News Wire here

Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions released a new paper suggesting that states adopt “common elements” that would allow them to participate in cross-state carbon trading systems to reduce power-sector emissions from greenhouse gases. The paper suggests states could develop their own targets for emissions reductions, rather than a multi-state shared target, and allow electricity generators to trade compliance permits with generators in other states. Robert Stavins, a Harvard University economist, called the idea “cap-and-trade from the bottom up, rather than the top down.”

– Read more from E&E Publishing here

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee recently voted to place unallocated carbon allowances into the reserve, which would introduce flexibility into the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and help address the projected surplus by 2020 of two billion allowances. Questions remain about the potential for volatility in the market resulting from the release of unallocated allowances from the New Entrants Reserve and from closures of installations that previously held allowances. The International Emissions Trading Association said these excess allowances should be placed directly in the Market Stability reserve.

– Read more from IETA here

Delegating far and away

Norway is betting it will be easier to cut carbon emissions abroad than at home, and may pay 1.5 billion euros for emission cuts in European Union (EU) nations, or elsewhere if international climate negotiations fail, through 2030. Norway is not an EU member, but it is the region’s second biggest oil and gas supplier and participates in the EU’s carbon market for certain industries, including oil and gas production. Norway adopted a plan to cut emissions by the equivalent of 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and the offsets they purchase will be used to meet this goal. This plan may boost EU carbon prices, which have fallen 81% since 2008, and could help reduce the current surplus of offsets in the EU market.

– Read more from Bloomberg here

China will launch its first carbon-dedicated trust fund in an attempt to lure investors into fledgling CO2 markets. The trust fund, managed by CMB Sinolink Investment, a subsidiary of China Merchants Bank, reached a total of 50 million yuan in the first 18-month phase, and plans to raise another 300 million yuan this year. “We are targeting secondary trading in both permits and offset credits, and project development in the primary market,” said fund manager Pang Binfeng. Across China, more than 2,000 companies are now obligated to participate in the seven separate CO2 markets.

– Read more from the Business Times here

Eco Business Management has been ordered closed by the High Court in Britain. The firm was ordered to liquidate after investigators found it sold overpriced carbon offsets and falsely claimed that investors would receive returns of up to 82% within six months to two years. The company was found to be related to Eco Asia Carbon Consultancy – a firm identified on the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authorities’ scam warning list. Because the company did not need to prove an identity or address to register, there is little chance of quickly catching the responsible individuals.

Read more here and here.

– Read more from This is Money here
– Read more from Money Observer here

Permian Global, Wetlands International, and Silvestrum revised the Verified Carbon Standard’s REDD+ methodology to include projects that address deforestation of tropical peat forests and projects to restore damaged peat lands. The methodology now includes six modules for determination, quantification, and monitoring of the baseline carbon stock changes and project emissions associated with peat land conservation and restoration. Peat forests in Indonesia store, on average, 2,009 tonnes of carbon per hectare.

– Read more from Mongabay here
– Read more from VCS here

The proposed “PayC” app is hoping to use crowd funding on Kickstarter to build a pay-as-you-go carbon offsetting platform. The developers will allow users to elect how much time they want to offset and will calculate their total emissions in that time period using rates based on the per capita emissions of their country. The app will allow users the choice to purchase offsets from United Nations’ registered projects, or from emissions trading schemes such as EU ETS.

– Read more on Kickstarter here

Based in Washington, D.C., the Senior Communications Associate will support the Communications Manager in strengthening Forest Trends’ overall communications, with a special emphasis on media and social media outreach. S/he will be responsible for promoting Forest Trends’ work to the media and also generally strengthen the organization’s outreach by cultivating and organizing media contacts and lists, assisting with mailings (primarily electronic) and other forms of outreach, coordinating event logistics, supporting the publication and communications production process, and performing other duties as assigned. Successful candidates will have a bachelor’s degree and three to five years of relevant experience.

– Read more about the position here

Based in Washington, D.C., the Research Assistant will be able to commit to 35-40 hours per week to support a range of activities under the Ecosystem Marketplace Carbon Markets Program, including supporting the development of the State of the Forest Carbon/Voluntary Carbon Markets reports. The ideal candidate will have a graduate degree, an interest in conservation finance/payments for ecosystem services and basic knowledge of the carbon markets or another ecosystem service market; excellent writing, verbal communications, research and organizational skills; and excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Excel.

– Read more about the position here

Based in Lagos, Nigeria, the Managing Director will oversee and grow Envirofit’s operations, sales and business development within the West Africa region. Successful candidates will have a bachelor’s degree or master’s of business administration, plus 10 years of experience with a proven track record and expertise in business development, manufacturing, supply chain management, sales, distribution and business growth in Africa.

– Read more about the position here

Based in San Francisco, California, the Senior Program Associate will help build the sustainable finance strategy and execute key priorities under the direction of the Program Director to develop a philanthropic strategy to shift investment away from fossil fuels and into clean energy. Successful candidates will have five to seven years of experience supporting programs, and two to three years of experience in finance or related sector, advanced degree in business, finance, or other relevant field preferred.

– Read more about the position here

Based in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Team Leader will support the Low Carbon Agricultural Support Project which is aimed to reduce air, water, and soil pollution with emphasis on treating livestock wastes through use of biogas and bio-slurry processing technologies. The successful candidate will have a relevant university degree in agriculture, management or a relevant discipline and at least 10 years of experience in project implementation management in a developing country.

– Read more about the position here

Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Partnerships and Communication Director will develop, manage and maximize the potential of current and new partnerships, in addition to overseeing the development and implementation of the organization’s communication strategy. Successful candidates should have an established network of engaged corporates and understanding of corporate social responsibility.

– Read more about the position here