Carbon Connection

When it comes to offsets, additionality means above business as usual. But how is additionality established and why is it so important to the carbon market? In this ‘Covering Your Basics’ episode, join Business Development Manager Lauren Wilson as she explains the concept of additionality, ways to test for it, and how it is incorporated into each of Climate Action Reserve’s protocols.

Are you curious to learn more about the driving principles behind the Climate Action Reserve’s programming and offsets? In this ‘Covering Your Basics’ episode, join Business Development Manager Lauren Wilson as she explains the core tenets that guide our program and ensure GHG emission reductions certified by the Reserve are of the highest quality.

Within Climate Action Reserve’s program, protocols are like rulebooks. They provide detailed guidance for how offset projects must be developed and how emissions reductions are counted. In this ‘Covering Your Basics’ episode, join Business Development Manager Lauren Wilson as she reviews what’s outlined in a protocol, how protocols are used in the Reserve’s programming, as well as the protocol development process that is critical to ensuring the program’s integrity.

The term “ozone depleting substances” refers to a large group of chemicals known to destroy the stratospheric ozone layer when released into the atmosphere. ODS were historically used in a wide variety of applications including refrigerants, foam blowing agents, solvents, and fire suppressants. In addition to their potency, ODS exhibit high global warming potentials (GWP), ranging from several hundred to several thousand times that of carbon dioxide. Next up in Carbon Connection, Associate Director of Programs Holly Davison reviews Climate Action Reserve’s U.S. Ozone Depleting Substances Protocol, including how it operates under the State of California’s compliance Cap-and-Trade Program. Tune in as Holly highlights the climate benefits brought to the global community by destroying ODS permanently and the offset credit generation potential from ODS projects under Climate Action Reserve.

Forests cover 31% of land on our planet. As a natural carbon sink, they provide a solution to climate change by sequestering and storing carbon directly from the atmosphere. However, when a forest is disturbed through natural events and human-based activities such as wildfire, disease, agricultural clearing, or logging, they emit carbon instead of absorbing, jeopardizing the critical role they play in climate mitigation. In this episode of Carbon Connection, Associate Director of Nature-Based Solutions Jon Remucal reviews our Climate Forward Reforestation Forecast Methodology and provides guidance on how to facilitate reforestation activities that can accelerate the re-growth of healthy forests. By conducting reforestation activities through the recently updated Reforestation Forecast Methodology, actors can do so in an economically feasible manner that provides upfront financial support for implementing a reforestation project. Actors also have a path for transferring the Climate Forward Credit, Forecasted Mitigation Units (FMUs) to the Reserve’s voluntary offset program under a corresponding forest protocol for issuance of Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs).

Landfills are the third-largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions in the United States. Most municipal solid waste is deposited in landfills where bacteria decompose the organic material and produce landfill gas comprised of methane and carbon dioxide. If left unmanaged, this landfill gas is released into the atmosphere, disrupting community commitments to cleaner air and reductions in methane that cause global climate change. In this episode of Carbon Connection, Associate Director of Programs Holly Davison explores one of Climate Action Reserve’s first offset protocols, the US Landfill Protocol, which to date has generated nearly 40 million offset credits. Join Holly to learn more about the process of collecting and destroying methane gas through eligible destruction devices at landfills and criteria for listing landfill offset projects with the Reserve.

Livestock operations in Mexico hold great potential to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. When waste from livestock is left to decompose or degrade naturally, it emits methane into the atmosphere that otherwise could be captured or destroyed. Through the installation of biogas control systems, livestock farmers have an alternative to not only reduce the methane they produce but receive carbon credits for doing so. 

We are shaking things up a bit with this podcast episode and are releasing two different versions. If you’re joining here, Business Development Manager Lauren Wilson will give a brief overview of our Mexico Livestock Protocol. In parallel, you can tune in to a special version of this episode conducted in Spanish and hosted by Analytical Associates Abbey Garcia and Aurelia Casarrubias as they review the protocol and discuss how biogas control systems can reduce methane emissions into the atmosphere, thereby improving local air quality and the livelihoods of farming communities.

Las operaciones ganaderas en México tienen un gran potencial para contribuir a la mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático. Cuando los desechos del ganado se dejan descomponer o degradar de forma natural, emiten metano a la atmósfera que de otra forma podría ser capturado o destruido. Mediante la instalación de sistemas de control de biogás, como biodigestores y antorchas, los ganaderos tienen una alternativa no sólo para reducir el metano que producen, sino para recibir créditos de carbono por ello. En este episodio especial de Carbon Connection realizado en español, los asociados analíticos Abbey García y Aurelia Casarrubias repasan el Protocolo Ganadero de México de la Reserva y analizan cómo los sistemas de control de biogás pueden reducir las emisiones de metano a la atmósfera, mejorando así la calidad del aire local y los medios de vida de las comunidades agrícolas.

Mangrove forests are critical to addressing climate change due to the ecosystem services they provide. Mangroves create habitat for fisheries and diverse flora and fauna, act as a natural barrier to storms, and prevent runoff or soil erosion, in addition to their significant carbon sequestration potential. In this inaugural episode of Carbon Connection, we talk to Director of Latin America, Amy Kessler about the Manglares San Crisanto/San Crisanto Mangroves project, the Climate Action Reserve’s first ever mangrove offset project registered through the Mexico Forest Protocol, and the significance it will have on the local ejido community. To learn more about mangrove forests and their importance to ecosystems, please check out the Climate Action Reserve’s infographic.