Topic: offsets

This brief provides an overview of the Carbon Canopy, a novel partnership among companies, landowners, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that seeks to leverage markets for ecosystem services to increase the area of southern U.S. forests certified as sustainably managed. It is designed to inform companies, NGOs, and other organizations interested in developing or participating in similar programs that link forest certification with carbon offsets.

This issue brief explores forest carbon offsets in the context of the southern United States. It is intended as an introductory resource for southern woodland owners, nongovernmental organizations active in the region, offset project developers, and other forest carbon offset market stakeholders.

This working paper explores the value of temporary carbon storage, as well as the implications of those temporary storage values for several critical policy design questions relating to greenhouse gas accounting and biological offsets.

Once internal mitigation opportunities have been maximized, carbon markets provide another option for businesses to reduce their carbon footprints and support emission reduction projects. This fact sheet answers common questions about what types of projects can generate offsets, how reputable offsets are created, and how business can use them.

When implemented properly, an early action component of a cap-and-trade program can reward early actors while preserving or enhancing the environmental outcomes of the cap-and-trade program. If designed and implemented poorly, however, early action credits can infl ate the emissions cap and reduce the overall environmental integrity of the program. This paper presents a range of options for addressing early reductions and discusses their implications.

A sound understanding of the economics of offsets-in particular, of the potential supply of offsets under future policy scenarios and market conditions-is critically important for policymakers as they address major design decisions in crafting climate policy. This analysis will evaluate offset supply analyses completed to date, with a particular focus on identification of the assumptions and discrepancies of these efforts. This work will inform a subsequent, detailed analysis of domestic offset supply potential.

Testimony Before the Senate Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry, and Credit of the United States Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry