Transcript Slide 1
SOCIALCARBON Standard
Introduction to criteria and procedures for certification
Who we are
Ecologica Institute (EI) is a
non-profit organization
active in the Amazon
rainforest.
During the past ten years,
EI’s mission has been to
develop activities focused
on climate change
mitigation through:
- scientific research.
- environmental preservation.
- community development.
Canguçu
Research
Center
Results Realized until 2009
Climate Change
• 460,000 tons of carbon reduced through the promotion of
projects in reforestation, conservation, and fuel switching.
• 46 studies on climate change, renewable energy,
environmental conservation and community development.
Forest
• 2,323 native hectares conserved through the support of the
creation of private nature reserves.
• 300 hectares of forest restored.
Community development
• 6,480 people trained
• 110 families included in the market through the
commercialization of sustainable products that benefit the
climate.
SOCIALCARBON
Standard
The Ecologica Institute is
the developer of the
Social Carbon concept and
of the SOCIALCARBON®
Standard.
The SOCIALCARBON
Standard is an additional
certification to guarantee
that carbon offset
projects are sustainable
and result in social and
environmental benefits.
Sustainable Livelihood Approach
• SOCIALCARBON was developed during the five-year
implementation of a community-based forest Project.
• Objective: include local stakeholder’s perspectives in the
development of project to guaranty commitment and long term
success (i.e. activities to generate income: Agro-forestry systems)
• Its theoretical framework is based on the Sustainable Livelihood
Approach (SLA), a world wild methodology used in planning new
development activities and in assessing the contribution that
existing activities have made to sustaining livelihoods.
e.g. International NGOs:
•
CARE
•
Save the Children
•
OXFAM
•
ITDG (Intermediate Technology
Development Group)
e.g. Bilateral:
•
DANIDA
•
SIDA
•
DFID
e.g. Multilateral :
•
UNDP
•
FAO
•
WFP
•
IFAD
•
World Bank
Source IFAD: Background of Sustainable Livelihoods
History
• The first large-scale carbon
sequestration project in
Brazil, 1998
• Located entirely on the
Bananal Island (Brazil)
• Objectives: Reducing
deforestation; reforestation
of degraded areas; and
generating income for the
communities involved
• Creation of the Canguçu
Research Center
• Inauguration by Prince
Charles
• Publication of the book
“Social Carbon: adding value
to sustainable development”
Evolution of SOCIALCARBON
1998
Forest project
in Brazil
2000
Development
of the Social
Carbon
concept and
methodology
SOCIALCARBON Standard: certification for carbon offset projects
2006
Switching fuel
projects
(biomass in
small
industries)
2007
HPP, both
large and
small scale
2008
- SOCIALCARBON
Standard
published
- First project
certifyed
2010
- Over 40
projects
certified in
Brazil
- Expanding
globally
- Creation of a
SOCIALCARBON
Board
Social Carbon concept: methodology for community development projects
2003
Publication of the
book: Social
Carbon: adding
value to sustainable
development
2003 - …
All Ecologica Institute’s projects use Social
Carbon methodology (capacity building,
sustainable products, etc.)
2010
Publication of the
second book:
Biodiversity and
Social Carbon
MARKET INFORMATION
What Buyers Want…
1. Local Community Benefits
2. Experience & Credibility
Source: Ecosecurities Carbon Management and Offsetting Trends
Survey Results 2009
3. Carbon Standards
Prices
VCS offsets by price-tier
Market share
Buyers
Certifiers
Partners and
endorsments
Project developers
Current
Formerly Social Carbon Company
Brazil
•
•
•
•
New project developers
Asia
Turkey
Chile
Colombia
HOW IT WORKS
SOCIALCARBON criteria
Project developers establish a baseline using the standard's assessment tools.
Developers must then demonstrate improvements in relation to this baseline through
SOCIALCARBON monitoring reports that are independently verified by certifying
entities.
How does it work?
1 - Use of six basic resources:
Social, Human, Financial,
Natural, Biodiversity and Carbon.
2 - The indicators have a score
beginning at the most precarious
scenario (level 1) and ending at
the ideal situation (sustainable
use of resource – level 6).
3 - All the data is collected
through participative methods
(interviews, questionnaires and
meetings with stakeholders).
Indicator
1
Education
High degree
of
4 -The average
score
illiteracy.
indicators
hexagon.
Professional
Capacity
2
Illiteracy
by
the
among older
is plotted ininhabitants.
a
Professional
Few people
skills nearly
have acquired
absent.
professional
skills.
3
Some
illiteracy.
Social
6
5 3.5
4
Carbon5.0
4 3
2
Little
illiteracy. 1
0
5 Human
6
Almost
No illiteracy.
2.7 no
Point
illiteracy.
Zero
Point 01
Some people
People
Presence of
Presence of
3.0 have
3.8
Technolog
have acquired professional
skilled Financialvarious types
y
professional
skills that
professionals. of skilled
3.6
skills.
need
professionals.
upgrading.Natural
Project Cycle
Feasibility Study
UNFCCC & VCS
METHODOLOGIES
VCS_PDD
SOCIAL CARBON
REPORT (POINT ZERO)
D.O.E. VALIDATION
D.O.E. VALIDATION
MONITORING
MONITORING & ACTION
PLAN
D.O.E. VERIFICATION
D.O.E. VERFICATION
(POINT ONE)
Carbon Accounting
SOCIALCARBON
STANDARD &
INDICATORS
Sustainability
DOCUMENTS AND
STATESMENT ISSUANCE
PAYMENT OF
VCS LEVY
REGISTRATION INTO
MARKIT REGISTRY
PAYMENT OF
SOCIALCARBON LEVY
Aditional information for auditors
• Usually the DOEs involve two different auditors in the process, one
for the PDD and one for the SOCIALCARBON Report.
• This is not a requirement of the Standard, but auditors of
SOCIALCARBON Reports prefer to work this way for two main
reasons:
– to save time during the validation process;
– SOCIALCARBON Reports are more similar to Sustainability Reports than
Project Design Documents and auditors with experience in certifying
ISO 14.000 are more efficient in certifying SOCIALCARBON Reports
than those involved in CDM.
Exempla of SOCIALCARBON indicators
• The Indicators for Hydropower plants (HPP) used for the
SOCIALCARBON assessment are based in The International
Hydropower Association (IHA) Sustainability Guidelines.
• Example of SOCIALCARBON indicators for HPP:
Exempla of SOCIALCARBON Reports
• Example of SOCIALCARBON assessment for HPP (SOCIALCARBON
Report):
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
• “Which are the requirements for becoming an accredited certifier
and how is the process and its costs?”
– The Ecologica Institute does not have an accreditation procedure for
auditors of the SOCIALCARBON Reports.
– If your organization intends to audit a SOCIALCARBON Report, please
fill the attached FORM II – Certifying Entities identifying the contact
person responsible for SOCIALCARBON certification activities and email it to: [email protected]
– We will require you to send us the first draft Validation Report to
make sure it complies with the SOCIALCARBON Standard criteria.
– After the first successful validation your organization will be listed as
one of Certifying Entities for SOCIALCARBON at:
http://www.socialcarbon.org/Developers/Certifying-Entities/
– There are no costs involved.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
•
“Which are the requirements for becoming an approved organization
for applying SOCIALCARBON in carbon offset projects and how is the
process and its costs?”
– The Ecologica Institute does not have an accreditation procedure for
project developers.
– Project developers wishing to apply the SOCIALCARBON Standard must first
implement SOCIALCARBON in a pilot project under the supervision of the
Ecologica Institute for demonstration of capacity.
– If your organization intends to develop a SOCIALCARBON Report, please fill
the attached FORM I – Approved Organizations identifying the contact
person responsible for SOCIALCARBON assessments and e-mail it to:
[email protected]
– We will require you to send us the first draft SOCIALCARBON Report to
make sure it complies with the SOCIALCARBON Standard criteria.
– After the first successful validation of a SOCIALCARBON Report your
organization will be listed as one of Approved Organizations for
SOCIALCARBON at: http://www.socialcarbon.org/Developers/CertifyingEntities/
– There are no costs involved.
PROCEDURES
2
1
6
5
4
3
Overview of SOCIALCARBON Procedures
Project Cycle
Selection of
baseline and
monitoring
methodologies
Stage
1
SOCIALCARBON Cycle
Getting started – Prepare your SOCIALCARBON indicators The indicators are project specific and co-developers may
choose between adapting existing indicators or creating new.
SOCIALCARBON indicators for each of the six aspects: social,
human, financial, natural, biodiversity and carbon.
Documents: Template and guidance for adapting and
creating new indicators
Important: public consultation process for new indicators
(especially certifying entities)
Steps for new indicators:
1. List of potential positive and negative social, economic
and environmental impacts
2. List significant risks for the project
3. List of stakeholders directly or indirectly affected
4. Benchmarking (best practices)
5. Indicators (establishment of scenarios 1-6)
Additional Information: Scores
Scores
1 and 2
Classification
3 and 4
Satisfactory
5 and 6
Sustainable
Critical
Characteristics
Existence of irregularities; high socio-environmental risk;
significant levels of social and environmental degradation; or
situation of extreme hardship, which significantly compromises
the quality of life of the population.
Meets all the legal requirements relating to its activities;
surpasses them through the adoption of good practices and
voluntary actions in some cases; or the quality of life reaches the
minimum acceptable standard but requires improvement.
Exceeds its legal obligations and/or common practice in the
market, in many cases adopting the best-possible practices for
the sector; or communities have reached a sustainable
livelihood, with adequate access to material and social goods,
are capable of recovering independently from situations of
stress, and are not causing the deterioration of basic
environmental resources through their activities.
Project Cycle
Project
Design
Document
(PDD)
Stage
2
SOCIALCARBON Cycle
Elaboration of SOCIALCARBON Report - This will define a
baseline for assessing the project’s contribution to
sustainable development. Collect data used to score the
indicators through participative methods, like interviews,
questionnaires or meetings with stakeholders. Then
summarize it in a Report.
Documents: Template and guidance for elaborating
SOCIALCARBON Reports (SCR)
Important: qualitative information and opinions from
stakeholders count! SOCIALCARBON is more about
understanding people’s needs and perspectives (the local
people’s point of view) than matrix of numbers.
Contents:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identifying the project
General description of the Project activity
Method of applying SOCIALCARBON
Results
Analysis of Results
Perspectives
Project Cycle
Validation
Stage
3
SOCIALCARBON Cycle
Choose one organization to certify the SOCIALCARBON Report
– Is an independent process from the PDD, but DOEs can
complete the validation and verification procedure both for
PDD + SOCIALCARBON Reports at the same time.
Documents: None. Validators are free to develop their own
methods for auditing SCR and Validation Report format.
SOCIALCARBON Standard Criteria:
1. Offset Project Eligibility
2. Elaboration of SOCIALCARBON indicators for the project
3. Data collection through participatory methods
4. Elaboration of SOCIALCARBON Report
5. Monitoring
6. Continual improvement
7. Independent auditing of SOCIALCARBON Reports
Additional information for auditors: new
indicators
• During the first validation using a new indicators is common that
certifying entities ask for some changes in the indicators, because:
– Some indicators can not be audited
• There is no way to evidence the information required by the indicator, for
example: the switching fuel project has an impact in reducing
deforestation rates in the region.
– Collecting evidence for the indicator is possible but not feasible:
• Usually indicators that contain the word “all” or “none” or “never” suit
this category, for example: All employees are satisfy with the benefits
offered by the company or none of the employees work in risk situations.
• If the certifying entity asks for changes in the indicators, the
project developer must submit this to the Ecologica Institute for
approval using the “template for adapting indicators”.
Additional information for auditors: methods for
validation/verification of SCR
• Different methods for validation/verification of SCR:
– TUV Nord: have a questionnaire (check list) and open CARs
– Bureau Veritas: Check indicator by indicator
Additional information for auditors: scope of the
auditing process
• Scope of the auditing process:
– SOCIALCARBON is a holistic assessment. Nevertheless the organization
is not obligated to demonstrate legal conformity within all the six
aspects: social, human, natural, biodiversity, financial and carbon.
– The auditing process must be limited to the information described or
required in the indicator or else the scope of validation becomes
“virtually unlimited” and a never ending process, because project
developers have to demonstrate conformity with all the existent laws.
– This decision was also taken to avoid that SOCIALCARBON became an
excuse to audit other issues not related to the impacts of the carbon
project, such as: fiscal, salary, social security or confidential
information.
Additional information for project developers: examples
of evidences that might be required by certifying entities
•
Documentation:
– All documentation mentioned in the SCR must be available for auditors
– Documentation not mentioned in the SCR may be also required to evidence
some information (i.e. if the project developer states that is planning to
implement a project /program the “plan of activities” may be required)
•
Questionnaires:
– Always specify in the report the name, organization and position of people
responsible for providing any type of information (not just the responsible)
and ask for a signature whenever is possible.
•
Meetings:
– With local stakeholders: list of presence and tape it whenever is possible.
– With project owners: another option is to summarize in a report and ask
for a approval of the content.
•
Others types of evidence:
– Pictures, newspapers, certificates, etc.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Which are the procedures for validation of a SOCIALCARBON
Report?
– When we first contact D.O.Es to certify SOCIALCARBON Reports, both
TUV Nord and Bureau Veritas stated that there was no need to
establish an specific procedure for auditors, since they already had
internal procedures for auditing Sustainability Reports that could be
applicable for SOCIALCARBON.
– Please confirm if your organization will need us to elaborate a specific
procedure for you.
– In general D.O.E.s evaluate if the:
• Report contains all information required by the Template and guidance for
elaborating SOCIALCARBON Reports
• Information disclosure in each indicator is relevant and truth
• Score is in accordance with the described scenario in the indicators
• If the continual improvement criteria has been accomplished during
verification periods
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Regarding the SOCIALCARBON Report, should it be reviewed by the
SOCIALCARBON team, after validation?
– No.
• Is there any public consultation that should be done?
– No public consultation is required.
Project Cycle
Monitoring &
Verification
Stage
4
SOCIALCARBON Cycle
Monitoring and verification – elaborate annual SOCIALCARBON
Reports and submit them to independent verification to
demonstrate project’s contribution to sustainable
development.
Important: Achieving sustainability is not a quick and easy
task; rather, it is a long process of continual improvements.
After the first commercialization of carbon credits, project
proponents:
•
Must demonstrate goals for improvement and provide
evidence that they are being achieved.
• Will not be allowed to present a decrease in the same
aspect for two consecutive monitoring periods.
Additional information for project developers:
Continual improvement criteria
• Commitment of the project owner is fundamental or else the
continual improvement will not occur.
• The trick question: Assume a project owner wants to implement 5 measures to
improve performance in the indicators. He could get SOCIALCARBON certification
if he implements one measure each year for 5 years, but would loose it if he
implements all measures in the first year and does not improve in the next 4 years
to come. Therefore, he would have the incentive to delay these measures just in
order to keep the SOCIALCARBON certification?
– The assessment for continual improvement might be based not only in
the improvement of indicators score, but also in evidences that
proposed perspectives are being developed by the project owner,
especially in cases where improvement is not perceptive in the
indicators.
– The objective is demonstrate that actions are in place and benefiting
stakeholders, even if they do not push the indicator up one point. It
should address not only the results itself but also the organization’s
endeavor.
Project Cycle
VER Issuance
Stage
5
SOCIALCARBON Cycle
After successful verification, you may issue the SOCIALCARBON
credits through the Markit Environmental Registry. You must .
request the registration of a SOCIALCARBON project or credits
to Markit. This request must be accompanied by corresponding
SOCIALCARBON documentation.
Documents:
•So far the documentation required for registration is: The
SOCIALCARBON Report and the Validation/Verification Report.
• In some cases we accept issuance only with SOCIALCARBON
Reports without Validation Report because we still have a lack
of validators. In Brazil we are not accepting this anymore.
•A “Terms and conditions” for issuance SOCIALCARBON units at
Markit is in development and in the future will need to be
signed by all project developers.
Important: After initial issuance, the credits may be
transferred to other registries (APX, Cassie Depots)
WHY WE ARE DIFERENT
Standards in the Market
Name of Program
Minimal focus on co-benefits versus required co-benefits
International Mechanisms
GHG Accounting Protocols
Clean Development Mechanism
WBCSD/WRI GHG Protocol for Project Accounting
Joint Implementation
ISO 14064
Mandatory cap-and-trade systems
Complete Voluntary Standards
European Union Emissions Trading Scheme
Climate Action Reserve
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Gold Standard
Western Climate Initiative
Voluntary Carbon Standard 2007
Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord
VER+
Canada’s Offset System for Greenhouse Gases
American Carbon Registry
Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Plan Vivo
New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme CarbonFix
Voluntary cap-and-trade systems
Add-on /complementary Standards
Chicago Climate Exchange
Climate Community and Biodiversity Standards
Other GHG Systems
SOCIALCARBON Standard
Alberta Offset System
Other Types of Standards
Co-benefits
Applies to
Projects (pipeline)
British Columbia Emission Offset Regulation
Green-e Climate Protocol for Renewable Energy
SOCIALCARBON
All types
60
Climate Leaders
Green-e Climate Program
Gold Standard
CCBS
Plan Vivo
CarbonFix
EE & RE
Forestry
Forestry
Forestry
150
32, no issuance
5 small scale
5 small scale
Our Differential
• It is more flexible and responsive to the realities of developing
countries
• Easily understood by all stakeholders, including communities
• It has a more practical vision (methodology instead of list of
criteria)
• It strives for continuous improvement instead of selective criteria
for projects
• It is based on Sustainable Livelihood Approach
• SOCIALCARBON Standard is the only standard created in a
developing country (Brazil)
Our differential
• SOCIALCARBON does not compare a project to another project:
– Is not about selecting and separating “best projects” or “high quality
projects” from the “rest of the projects.”
• SOCIALCARBON compare the project in beginning with the project
in the future:
– to evaluate how carbon markets are directly and indirectly benefiting
local stakeholders.
SMALL SCALE AND COMMUNITY
PROJECTS
Projects – Ceramic Facilities
Project Type
Fuel switching (biomass)
Location
Number Total emissions
58
1,114,445
Project Activities
Total VERs
9,542,326
Years
10
Certifications
Lesson 01 – outstanding performance in small
organizations is a mith
• Small organizations and communities have:
– poor organizational capacity and ability to mobilize.
– They also lack of management system for human, financial, and
natural resources .
• Thus, ask small organization and community to have outstanding
performance is a contradiction.
– To make several demands in the beginning of the Project does not
incentive improvement, but rather has a contrary effect and
undermines people’s interest. Exclude people from the market is not
the answer.
• For this reason, SOCIALCARBON does not establish a minimal
score range, projects can be certified even if the score critical
levels as 1 or 2 in the indicators.
Cerâmica Cavalcante – State of Pará (Amazon)
Verified by:
Lesson 02: Adapting sustainable principles to a local
reality assessment
•
Example of criteria for sustainability assessment for Gold Standard:
– The project respects the employees’ freedom of association and their right
to collective bargaining and is not complicit in restrictions of these
freedoms and rights?
•
SOCIALCARBON assessment (indicators are project specific):
Lesson 03 - Approaching sustainability without
considering local priorities is impractical
• The top down approach where Standards establish “what should
be done” for achieving sustainability is not necessarily effective
in practice, because lack of commitment and interest from the
local stakeholders.
• For example, some important issues to ceramic owners and
employees:
– Better wages or benefits and reducing turn over rates
– Capacity building on production, quality and security
– Improving technology to reduce physical efforts and improve product’s
quality
– Reducing waste
• Improving this type of measures might be more relevant and costeffective than, for example, a two public consultation process or
the mitigation of “all potential negative impacts”.
LARGE SCALE
PROJECTS
Why SOCIALCARBON accepts all types of projects
• Sometimes assuming that certain types of projects are better than
others is more a matter of faith and belief than a rational decision
about which is the best option for a specific location under a
specific context.
• For this reason, SOCIALCARBON was not developed to select
projects that are considered “best projects”, but to incentivize
any project developer to improve sustainability performance.
• SOCIALCARBON Standard does not exclude large scale projects or
any type of project activity, as long as:
– Project developers can elaborate indicators and demonstrate cobenefits throughout the lifetime of the project
Hydroelectric
Energy upgrading
projects at the largescale hydropower plant
Mascarenhas and the
small-scale hydropower
plant Paraíso
Objectives:
• Create a fund to
support CSR projects
through the sale of
carbon credits
• Identify CSR projects
through participative
meetings with the
communities
Benefits of using SOCIALCARBON in large scale
projects
• For project developers
– It is a good way to improve the attractiveness of the credits for
buyers and also a new source of funds for implement CSR actions.
– For example, one PO listed two projects already ongoing or in
planning stages that they need more support for implementation as
the sedimentation control and reforestation projects that could
benefit from the addition revenues of SOCIALCARBON VCUs.
• For buyers:
– Reduces project risk and improves long-term stability:
SOCIALCARBON improves transparency of the project regarding, for
example, environmental and social impacts, political and social risks
related to local communities and commitment of the project owner
with CSR.
– Enhances buyers’ image and reputation due to projects’ high
environmental and social benefits.
Contact us:
Cecília Michellis
[email protected]
Tel. +55 11 6352 0027