Transcript The Verified Carbon Standard: Scaling up MRV REDD-plus after Cancun: Moving from Negotiation to Implementation Hanoi, Vietnam 19 May 2011 Naomi Swickard, AFOLU Manager.

The Verified Carbon Standard: Scaling up MRV
REDD-plus after Cancun: Moving from Negotiation to Implementation
Hanoi, Vietnam
19 May 2011
Naomi Swickard, AFOLU Manager
Overview
1) The Verified Carbon Standard
2) VCS Agriculture, Forestry and
Other Land Use (AFOLU)
 Methodologies
 MRV
3) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD
 MRV
The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)
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Established by leading NGOs (IETA, WBCSD, The Climate Group,
WEF) to provide a rigorous, trustworthy and innovative global
standard and validation and verification program for GHG
offsets
Managed by the VCS Association
 Non-profit headquartered in Washington, DC
 Single focus: to develop and manage the platform (i.e., no
consulting, no meth development, no validation/verification,
no project development)
 Funded through VCU levy and foundation grants
AFOLU Steering Committee largely credited with bringing in
land-based activities into the carbon market
VCS Projects
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Registered projects
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Over 600 Registered Projects (12 AFOLU projects)
Registered AFOLU projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Colombia,
Guatemala and Australia
Volumes
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Over 56 million VCUs issued (over 2.1 million from AFOLU)
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450 projects have issued VCUs
AFOLU pooled buffer account holds ~512,000 buffer credits
Projects under development
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Dozens of AFOLU projects under development in Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Cambodia, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Chile, Ecuador,
Mexico, DRC, South Africa, Kenya, and many more...
AFOLU Requirements
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ARR
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ALM
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Improved Forest Management
REDD
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Agricultural Land Management
IFM
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Afforestation, Reforestation and
Revegetation
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation
PRC
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Peatland Rewetting and Conservation
Rewetting of drained peatland; conservation of undrained or
partially drained peatland
VCS AFOLU Key Components
• Key components
 AFOLU Requirements include robust approaches to:
– Permanence: Risk Assessment and AFOLU Pooled Buffer
Account
– Leakage: Activity shifting and market leakage must be
minimized and accounted for
– Updated leakage requirements to be released for
public comment May 2011 and adopted mid 2011
 Most int’l developers are adding CCBS to VCS validations to
demonstrate social and environmental co-benefits (VCU tag)
VCS Methodologies
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15 approved VCS methodologies (9 AFOLU)
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Improved Forest Management (IFM) (5)
Reduced Emissions from Forest Degradation and Deforestation (REDD)
(4)
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Mosaic
Planned and Unplanned Deforestation
Degradation
On peatland
17 methodologies under development (9 AFOLU)
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Soil carbon
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Reduction of N2O fertilizer application
Improved grassland grazing and fire management
Rice cultivation management systems
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Reduction of CH4
MRV: Project Level
• Monitoring requirements
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Methodologies set out:
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Data and parameters to be monitored
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Criteria and procedures for project monitoring plan, including:
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Procedures for estimation, modelling or calculation of C stocks and stock
change
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Procedures for managing data
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Monitoring frequency
• Validation and Verification
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Conducted by accredited independent 3rd party auditors
• Registration (reporting)
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Projects required to register with one of 3 VCS registries (NYSE Blue, CDC, Markit)
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Public documents: project description, monitoring report, validation and verification
reports, representations, GPS coordinates
3) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD Initiative
Top Down
REDD Readiness
VCS Initiative
• CLUA funding
?
Jurisdiction-Level
Programs
Individual REDD
Projects Δ
Δ
Bottom Up
Δ
Δ
Δ
• Good practice and VCS
Criteria for:
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Jurisdictional
programs
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Jurisdictional
baselines
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Crediting at different
scales
Jurisdictional and Nested REDD
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Objectives
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Process
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Establish Good Practice Guidance for nesting of project activities within
REDD programs at the jurisdiction (region, state, province, country) level
Establish VCS criteria to enable crediting to VCS REDD projects and
jurisdictional programs
Establish VCS criteria for the creation/use of jurisdictional baselines
Establishment of Advisory Committee and Technical Experts groups,
include representatives from Indonesia, Ethiopia, Brazil, Mexico,
Australia, UK, USA, Colombia, France, DRC, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador and
several others
Peer review and public consultations
Timing: Expected late 2011 or early 2012
MRV: Jurisdictional and Nested REDD
• Scope
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RED, REDD, REDD+?
Jurisdiction vs. project
• Monitoring requirements
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What is required, who should do it, how often?
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MRV at different scales (national, subnational, project)
• Verification

What is required, who should do it, how often?
• Registration (reporting)
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Registration of jurisdictional programs, jurisdictional baselines
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National/Jurisdictional registries
Thank you
Naomi Swickard
AFOLU Manager
[email protected]
Bangkok, Thailand
Mobile +66 (0) 87 980 9220
Office +1 202 657 4767
VCS Association
1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Suite 803
Washington, DC 20036
www.v-c-s.org