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17 June 2010 M-Agg Washington, DC
VCS Agricultural Land Management
The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS)• 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 AFOLU• Project types
Agricultural Land Management (ALM) Improved Cropland Management Improved Grassland Management Cropland and Grassland Land-use Conversions
Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) Improved Forest Management (IFM) Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation (REDD)
• Key components Permanence: Risk Assessment and AFOLU Pooled Buffer Account Leakage: Activity shifting and market leakage must be minimized and
accounted for Optionality for demonstrating social/biodiversity benefits
The VCS Infrastructure
Double Approval Process
VCS Program Gap AnalysisRegistries
Temporary Accreditation
Process
VCS Program
Oversight
Double Approval Process
• Double Approval Process for new methodologies Bottom-up process to foster innovation within a context of quality,
credibility and transparency Requires:
Public comment period (30 days) Assessment by 2 validators with agreement on the final version
of the methodology AFOLU methodologies require at least one validator to have
a VCS-approved AFOLU Expert in the project type (e.g. ALM) At least one validator must have completed 10 validations
• Currently undergoing the double approval process: 19 methodologies including 12 AFOLU methodologies (2 ALM, 1 ARR,
5 REDD, 4 IFM)
Double Approval Process
ALM Methodologies• Current ALM methodologies:
Quantifying GHG Emission Reductions from the Production and Incorporation of Soil of Biochar in Agricultural and Forest Management Systems Developed by Carbon Gold Applies to projects that increase the carbon stocks in soils by
treating crop residues or other biomass produced as part of agricultural activities or forest management through controlled pyrolysis
Status: 1st Assessment
ALM Methodologies Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Land Management
(SALM) Developed by World Bank BioCarbon Fund Applies to projects that reduce emissions or increase soil c
stocks in agriculture by applying sustainable land management practices (SALM)
Uses input parameters to existing analytic models (RothC or Century) for estimation of organic soil C density at equilibrium in each of the identified management practices in each of the land use categories
Based on the "Western Kenya Smallholder Agriculture Carbon Finance Project”
Status: 1st Assessment
Developments• Further guidance on:
• Measurement and modelling• Model calibration• Quantification of uncertainty
• New project types• Avoided conversion of grasslands, shrublands, wetlands
• New Methodologies:• Additional ALM methodologies in pipeline
• New methodology template• Compensation mechanism for new methodologies
• Incentivize methodologies with broader scope• Help developers recover some of the cost
Thank you
Naomi SwickardAFOLU Program CoordinatorVoluntary Carbon Standard Association1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NWSuite 803Washington, DC 20036Tel: +1 202 296 [email protected]
