The New Black (Green?)

By Simon Bird

As the delegates are meeting in Cancun for COP 16, the vast majority of the talk has been on the many failings in our attempts to manage and mitigate global climate change. This comes on the heels of the U.S.’s failed attempt to develop comprehensive energy and climate legislation in 2010. However, throughout the landscape there are bright spots and areas of important work on carbon management and environmental protection. This includes the incredible amount of groundwork that has been completed to create functioning carbon registries, standards and protocols.

A major accomplishment is the new carbon offset protocols for improved forest management, reforestation and avoided conversion of forests. These forest-based protocols required finding extensive common ground to adequately balance the need for credible standards and methodologies (including issues such as additionality, permanence and leakage), while keeping them both workable across a broad area and financially feasible.

Bioenergy Accounting Challenges

Bioenergy Accounting Challenges

by Jeffrey Frost

Bioenergy is like the little engine that could.  Given the fixed land supply and the imperative to produce our food, feed, fiber and bioenergy feedstocks, astute observers have long noticed that even under optimistic biomass supply estimates, bioenergy can only fulfill one piece of our low carbon renewable energy future.  And while solar, wind, and hydro will ultimately, by necessity, be forced to absorb an increasing share of the total renewable energy resource demand, today’s available bioenergy – in the form of liquid biofuels, and electrical and thermal biopower – can help to reduce fossil fuel consumption before the forces of climate change create unimaginable dislocations to 21^st century life.

Delivering GHG Reductions under Various Climate Policy Options

By Charles Kerchner

With the economic concerns, health care debate, and climate skepticism delaying any immediate action on climate change policy in Washington, the door has been left open for other climate policy proposals. The question facing farm and forest landowners during this time of uncertainty is: How can the agriculture and forestry sectors deliver GHG reduction benefits under any policy option on the table?

To date, the lion’s share of attention has been given to the cap-and-trade policy (i.e., the Waxman-Markey bill and the Kerry-Boxer bill). Under a cap-and-trade system the agriculture and forestry sectors are expected to be uncapped sectors and are expected to deliver substantial quantities of offsets to capped entities at an early stage in the game.  This could represent a multi-billion dollar a year revenue stream for American foresters and farmers.  However, if a cap-and-trade system is not the chosen policy, there are still opportunities under the other options being considered.