[Updates earlier story with comments from VCS Association, plus NCF research]The
providers of the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) have released final
rules for the verification of carbon credits in forestry and
agriculture projects, a long-awaited step to ensure the integrity of
emissions reductions in the voluntary carbon market.
The
finalising of the agriculture, forestry and other land-use (AFOLU)
component of the VCS will allow now project developers to pursue
independent authentication of activities including reforestation &
afforestation, agro-forestry, improved forest management, land-use
conversions and avoided deforestation, or
REDD.
Its providers claim it’s the first standard available to projects in the emerging REDD field.
While
the VCS standard has been fully available to non-land-based emissions
reduction projects, such as renewable energy, for year since the
release of the 2007 version of the standard, special rules for projects
in the agriculture and forestry sectors have taken until now to be
finalised.
The delay reflects the wider issues affecting the
forestry sector over the complexity of conducting carbon sink
activities on the land. It has been beset with doubts over the
integrity of carbon emissions reductions being generated, particularly
over permanence,
additionality and adverse non-carbon environmental impacts.
The
lack of final rules hasn’t stopped a number of forest carbon project
developers intending to use the VCS starting projects and securing
forward sales of VCUs, the VCS’s carbon credits. But it is only since
the release of the AFOLU Guidance this month that such projects can
move forward to the validation stage, according to Jerry Seager, the
program manager at the VCS Association.
This means the AFOLU sector “is now formally incorporated into the 2007 standard”, Seager said.
Research
on the voluntary carbon market by New Carbon Finance shows that many of
the transactions in the forestry sector so far in the second half of
2008 were VCS credits.
There are a number of other voluntary
market standards for forestry available including the CCB Standard,
CarbonFix, Plan Vivo and potentially VER+, but the VCS appears to enjoy
the a jump on the others for universal acceptance, according to a
recent report, Forest Carbon Standards 2008.
The VCS appears to
enjoy widespread support in the carbon space, with the backing from
some heavy hitters. It was developed by The Climate Group, the
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) with support from
other business and non-government organisations.
VCS Guidance DocumentRelated stories:
Forestry Carbon Standards 2008