Tuesday, October 14, 2014 2:30 – 4:00pm EST / 11:30 – 1:00pm PST

Space is limited, so REGISTER NOW for this free webinar

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) recently published proposed updates to the U.S. Forest Projects Compliance Offset Protocol. The proposed updates include the incorporation of several quantitative, administrative and implementation clarifications or corrections, as well as changes to the common practice values in the assessment area data file, and the site class groupings for high and low designations.

On September 18, 2014, the California Air Resources Board voted to delay the implementation of the proposed updates to the assessment area data file and revised site class groupings  and to  include these proposed revisions in the upcoming Regulatory Update, which will be presented to the board in advance of the December 11-12th 2014 Board meeting. This webinar is presented to allowing interested parties to learn about these updates and ask questions.

Please join the American Carbon Registry and guest speakers from the California ARB and the US Forest Service (USFS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program to learn about how the FIA data is collected and updated, how common practice values were generated within this dataset and why site class groups were reassigned. The presentation will also include an overview of the upcoming Regulatory Update process. The presentation will include a Q&A session.

Please direct any questions regarding webinar registration to Paul Burman at pburman@winrock.org.

December 3, 2013 12:30 – 2:00 EST / 9:30 – 11:00 PST / 17:30-19:00 GMT

WEBINAR SLIDE DECK

Winrock’s American Carbon Registry (ACR) welcomes headline speakers Dallas Burtraw of Resources for the Future and Steven Cliff of the California Air Resources Board (invited), who will join Belinda Morris of ACR to present and discuss key issues regarding allowance allocation and offset supply in California’s cap-and-trade program.

California’s cap and trade program will begin in earnest this November with the first auction of carbon allowances to regulated entities. Both allowances and offsets are important cost-containment mechanisms, enabling the most cost-effective greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions to be achieved first and thus reducing the overall cost of the compliance program.

Regulated entities, market participants and other interested stakeholders have many issues to consider such as: How will the California Air Resources Board balance the allocation of free allowances to reduce the potential for leakage versus auctioning allowances? How will these decisions impact the price of carbon and the overall cost of the cap-and-trade program? How can carbon offsets provide price relief for regulated entities? And how will overall demand for offsets be impacted by how carbon allowances are allocated?

The webinar will include presentations from recognized experts discussing these questions and more, along with a presentation by ACR of a recently completed offset supply forecast for the cap-and-trade program, highlighting potential supply issues ahead.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014 11:00 – 12:30 EST / 8:00 – 9:30PST

WEBINAR SLIDE DECK

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) recently announced approval of a new compliance offset protocol for Mine Methane Capture (MMC), which will go into effect for listing of compliance offset projects starting on July 1, 2014.

The ARB MMC offset protocol provides methods to quantify greenhouse gas emission reductions associated with the capture and destruction of methane that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere as a result of mining operations at active underground and surface coal and trona mines and abandoned underground coal mines in the U.S. Projects listed and verified under ARB approved Early Action Quantification Methodologies are also eligible to generate compliance offset credits.

Please join American Carbon Registry and guest speakers from ARB, Ruby Canyon Engineering and Verdeo Sindicatum to learn about eligible mine methane capture projects and activities, the steps to list and verify projects under the compliance protocol and early action protocols, and the process to issue Registry Offset Credits and Early Action Offset Credits on ACR and convert these credits to ARB compliance offsets, which can be used by capped entities to help meet their emissions reduction obligation.

The American Carbon Registry (ACR) and Marten Law held a one-day symposium on July 17, 2013 in Sacramento on California’s cap-and-trade program. The symposium, California’s Cap-and-Trade: Strategies for Effective Market Participation, provided over 200 participants with information on generating, acquiring, and trading California compliance instruments.

• Workshop agenda

• List of registered participants

Overview of Compliance Markets and Regulatory Developments

• American Carbon Registry 
• Marten Law
• California Air Resources Board 

GHG Offsets in the Cap-and-Trade Program

• Yurok Tribe

Trading in Compliance Instruments

• Evolution Markets

Symposium Welcome Address Part I: Kevin Haroff, Partner at Marten Law, welcomes participants.

Symposium Welcome Address, Part II: John Kadyszewski, Director of American Carbon Registry, welcomes participants.

Overview of Compliance Options, Part I: Belinda Morris, American Carbon Registry’s California Director, introduces the structure of California’s compliance program.

Overview of Compliance Options, Part II: Erika Anderson of Marten Law  introduces the carbon offset value chain and a framework for discussing risk

Regulatory Developments: Steve Cliff, Assistant Chief of California Air Resources Board’s Stationary Source Division, discusses recent developments in California’s cap-and-trade program and the agency’s expectations going forward.

Developing Offset Projects for the Compliance Program: Moderated by Kevin Haroff, four project developers provide insights into the challenges and opportunities for offset projects developed under three of California’s compliance protocols. Todd English, Co-Founder of EOS Climate, Inc. discusses ODS projects. Peter Freed, Director of Terrapass discusses Livestock projects. Brian Shillinglaw, Manager of Carbon Investments and Policy for New Forests Inc., and Nathan Voegeli, Staff Attorney for the Yurok Tribe, discuss U.S. Forest Projects.

Trading in Compliance Offsets: An Overview: John Battaglia, Director of GHG Americas for Evolution Markets, Inc., provides an overview of trade in compliance instruments, including how allowances are traded on secondary markets, the variety of ways offsets are transacted, the different types of standard offset products and the role of the broker.

Future Compliance Offset Protocol Development: Moderated by Tony Brunello, Green Technology Leadership Group’s Executive Director, a panel of experts discuss the process of developing new offset protocols, including how new offset methodologies are developed in the voluntary market, what potential opportunities exist for new protocols in California’s cap-and-trade program, and the potential for international offset credits entering the California market.  Panelists include Obadiah Bartholomy, Senior Project Manager for Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Jeff Cohen, Co-Founder of EOS Climate, Inc., Adam Loney, Principal at Conestoga-Rovers Associates, Nick Marten, Chief Technical Officer at American Carbon Registry, Greg Mayeur, Manager of California Air Resources Board’s Offset Program Implementation, and Michelle Passero, Senior Climate Policy Advisor at The Nature Conservancy.

How can we help?: Mary Grady and Belinda Morris of American Carbon Registry and Erika Anderson and Kevin Haroff of Marten Law facilitate an open dialogue with participants seeking input on how ACR and Marten Law can assist participants in meeting their goals under the cap-and-trade program.

Interviews with Cap-and-Trade Symposium Participants: Reflections from symposium participants, including covered entities, project developers and verifiers, on California’s cap-and-trade program and the outcomes of the symposium.

For more information please contact:

Mary Grady American Carbon Registry Email: MGrady@winrock.org

Monday, September 9, 2013 3:00 – 4:30 EST / 12:00 – 1:30 PST

WEBINAR SLIDE DECK

Winrock’s American Carbon Registry (ACR) recently announced an open public comment period and is seeking stakeholder feedback on a voluntary carbon offset quantification methodology for Reduced Carbon Intensity of Fed Cattle.

The methodology quantifies carbon intensity-based GHG emissions reductions in the production of beef cattle in U.S. feedyards from alterations in feeding practice or management strategies that reduce enteric methane (CH4) from digestion of feed in the rumen as well as methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) from manure storage and handling.

The Methodology was developed by a Protocol Scientific Adaptation Team convened under the USDA Conservation Innovation Grant entitled Bovine Innovative Greenhouse Gas Solutions (BIGGS) and was adapted from three Alberta Offset System Quantification Protocols for beef cattle feeding.

Join the ACR webinar to learn more about and provide feedback to ACR on eligible activities as well as baseline and emission reduction quantification under the methodology. Presentations will be made by methodology developers Karen Haugen-Kozyra and Garth Boyd of The Prasino Group / Bovine Innovative Greenhouse Gas Solutions and Nicholas Martin of ACR.

Monday, October 28, 2013 9:30-11:00 PST / 12:30 – 2:00 EST

WEBINAR SLIDE DECK

Winrock’s American Carbon Registry (ACR) recently announced an open public comment period and is seeking stakeholder feedback on a voluntary carbon offset quantification methodology for Emissions Reductions from Biochar Projects.

Biochar is produced through the pyrolysis of biomass. The methodology quantifies and credits both the avoided emissions from combustion or decomposition of biomass in the baseline and enhanced carbon sequestration at sites where biochar is applied. Under the methodology, biochar may be produced from any biomass residues from forestry and agriculture, municipal solid wastes, and other biomass-based materials approved for use under the International Biochar Initiative’s IBI Biochar Standards (2013) provided such feedstocks also meet sustainability criteria specified in the methodology.

Join the ACR webinar to learn more about and provide feedback on eligible activities as well as baseline and emission reduction quantification under the methodology.  Presentations will be made by methodology developers Debbie Reed and Stefan Jirka of the International Biochar Initiative, Teresa Koper of The Climate Trust and Keith Driver of The Prasino Group as well as by Lauren Nichols of ACR.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 1:00 – 2:30 EST / 10:00 – 11:30 PST

WEBINAR SLIDE DECK

American Carbon Registry (ACR) has approved a voluntary carbon offset methodology for Emission Reductions in Rice Management Systems, applicable to Agricultural Land Management (ALM) project activities that involve a change in rice cultivation practices. The methodology as currently approved by ACR includes a regional calibration module for eligible activities in California. ACR is seeking stakeholder feedback on an expansion of the methodology to include eligible activities in Mid-South rice production. Presentations will be made by Terra Global Capital, Environmental Defense Fund, Applied Geosolutions and ACR.

Monday, July 1, 2013 10:00 – 11:30 PST / 1:00 – 2:30 EST

WEBINAR SLIDE DECK

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has approved the American Carbon Registry (ACR),as an Early Action Offset Program (EAOP) as well as an Offset Project Registry (OPR) for the California Cap-and-Trade Program. Please join ACR and guest speaker Greg Mayeur from the ARB for this webinar to learn more about California Early Action Offset Projects.