WRI recently convened leading experts to examine the issues and policy options surrounding carbon biosequestration.
Projects that increase and maintain carbon sequestration in the forest and agriculture sectors are likely to play a significant role in national climate programs in the United States and Canada.
Recent U.S. federal proposals have called for offsets from a variety of forest and agriculture projects that sequester carbon, such as afforestation and agricultural soil sequestration. Furthermore, all three North American regional trading programs (i.e., the Northeastern Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the Western Climate Initiative, and the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord) are all developing offset programs that have some role for biological sequestration projects.
While these projects have the potential to provide low-cost emissions benefits, they also present a number of technical challenges to assuring their quality. Failure to address these challenges would compromise the environmental goals of the cap-and-trade program.
In an effort to assist regulators that are and will be tasked with addressing these challenges, scientists and policymakers from key state, provincial and federal agencies in the U.S. and Canada gathered in Washington, DC on April 28th and 29th. The workshop examined the issues and policy options for: no-till and reduced-till agriculture, cropland conversion afforestation, reforestation, improved forest management, and forest products.
Dialogue participants walked away with a more thorough understanding of the unique challenges that these project types present, as well as the tradeoffs for the policy options for addressing them. We also explored alternative mechanisms for rewarding these specific projects.
Below are links to the workshop presentations:
- Biosequestration Workshop Agenda (PDF, 6 pages, 234 Kb)
- Additionality and Baselines for Agricultural Offset Projects (Powerpoint, 155 Kb)
Nicholas Bianco, WRI - Offsets in the Western Climate Initiative (PDF, 7 pages, 418 Kb)
Justin Brant, Washington Dept. of Ecology - Beyond Project-Based Offsets for Ag & Forestry (Powerpoint, 1.3 Mb)
Derik Broekhoff, Climate Action Reserve - Permanence Options for Soil Carbon Offsets (Powerpoint, 1.2 Mb)
Derik Broekhoff, Climate Action Reserve - GHG Emissions Offsets: (PDF, 58 pages, 751 Kb)
Adam Diamant, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) - Biosequestration Through GHG Offsets (Powerpoint, 752 Kb)
- Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord (Powerpoint, 350 Kb)
Ray Hammarlund, Kansas Corporation Commission - Carbon Sequestration in Farm and Forest Ecosystems (Powerpoint, 5.2 Mb)
Sarah Hines, U.S. Forest Service - USDA Climate Change (Powerpoint, 564 Kb)
William Hohenstein, USDA - EPA Offsets Experience and Analysis (Powerpoint, 475 Kb)
Bill Irving, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Sequestration Projects and the Waxman Markey Discussion Draft (Powerpoint, 257 Kb)
Alexia Kelly, Senior Associate, WRI - Forestry Projects: Measurement and Monitoring (PDF, 30 pages, 1.3 Mb)
Werner A. Kurz, Natural Resources Canada - Offset Supply Potentials: Uncertainties and Implications (PDF, 14 pages, 395 Kb)
Michael Lazarus, SEI - Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) (Powerpoint, 577 Kb)
John Marschilok, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation - Agriculture Offsets (Powerpoint, 40 Kb)
Brian McConkey, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Leakage with Forestry and Agriculture Offsets: What do we really know? (PDF, 17 pages, 296 Kb)
Brian C. Murray, Duke University - Additionality and Baselines for Agricultural Offsets: Background and Basics (PDF, 10 pages, 210 Kb)
Lydia Olander, Duke University - Challenges of Accounting for Soil Organic Matter in the Environmental Offsets Market (Powerpoint, 2.5 Mb)
Dr. Carolyn Olson, NRCS - Soil Carbon Sequestration Methods and Tools for Measurement, Monitoring and Verification (Powerpoint, 10.8 Mb)
Charles W. Rice, Kansas State University - Alberta and Climate Change (Powerpoint, 1.9 Mb)
- Forestry: Additionality and Baselines (Powerpoint, 1.0 Mb)
Gordon Smith, Ecofor
For additional information contact Nicholas Bianco or Alexia Kelly from the WRI Climate and Energy Program.
This workshop was made possible through contributions from the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Linden Trust.
Nicholas Bianco, Senior Associatenbianco@wri.org+1 (202) 729-7715Nicholas Bianco leads WRI’s efforts with U.S. states and U.S. federal agencies as they work together and in parallel to develop programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
