REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

November 2009

To read this entire item of approximately 2000 words online now in PDF format: Click here to read this item if you are an existing subscriber to this publication. Click here to purchase the full text of this item to read now (price: $25). To subscribe to this publication and immediately access all its archives including this item, select the relevant publication under 'Catalogue' in the left-hand column PLEASE NOTE: to read PDFs on www.argento.com you must be using Version 5 of Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader. If you have an earlier version you can download the latest free of charge by clicking here

Climate Action Reserve’s ‘Forest Project Protocol 3.0’ Adopted by the California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has approved “Version 3.0” of the Climate Action Reserve’s (CAR) Forest Project Protocol (Protocol). The Protocol allows owners of forest projects anywhere in the United States to generate carbon offset credits to be used in the U.S. voluntary carbon markets. The Protocol deals head-on with a number of thorny issues that have historically plagued biological carbon sequestration proposals, such as additionality, leakage and permanence. Although aspects of the Protocol remain controversial, it likely will provide part of the regulatory framework for forestry-related offset projects under California’s new mandatory cap-and-trade program, and may be influential in the development of other cap-and-trade proposals at regional and national levels.