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Climate Legislation and Markets: Regional Outlook. Focus: Agriculture. Agriculture and Carbon Markets: Making Carbon Count June 17, 2010. Jessica Shipley Solutions Fellow Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Founded May 1998
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Climate Legislation and Markets: Regional Outlook Focus: Agriculture • Agriculture and Carbon Markets: Making Carbon Count • June 17, 2010 Jessica Shipley Solutions Fellow Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Pew Center on Global Climate Change • Founded May 1998 • Independent, non-profit, non-partisan • Produces research on policy, economics, science & impacts, and solutions • Works with policymakers at state, federal, and international levels • Conducts education and outreach • Engages the business community through the Business Environmental Leadership Council
Overview: Legislation and Markets • Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) • Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord (MGGRA) • Western Climate Initiative (WCI)
RGGI: Offsets and Agriculture • Program design on offsets: • 3.3% of compliance obligation • No offset credits yet used for compliance • 5 project types • Must be located in a RGGI participating or MOU state • Additionality: standards-based approach with benchmarks • Eligibility of credits for federal program • Projects likely to qualify with current bill language
Midwestern Accord: Offsets and Agriculture • Design recommendations on offsets: • Limited to 20% of facilities’ compliance obligation • Project types, sizes, start dates, etc. still TBD • Likely to be limited to Accord states • Additionality, monitoring, and certification undefined • Eligibility of credits for federal program • MGGRA recommends that jurisdictions ensure that offsets issued under the Accord are recognized by a federal program.
WCI: Offsets and Agriculture • Design recommendations on offsets: • With other allowances, limited to 49% of total reductions • Priority project types for investigation: • Agriculture • Forestry • Waste management • Criteria: real, permanent, additional, verifiable • States may issue offsets for outside projects
Three Regions Initiative • WCI, RGGI, and MGGRA • Collaborating on linking, offsets, and LCFS • Joint offsets white paper: released May 19 • Commitment to ensuring offsets are real, additional, verifiable, permanent, enforceable • Based on uniform standards. • Recommendations for standards is next step • LCFS working group • Discussing many issues, e.g. land use change
Other Market Opportunities • Reducing demand for fossil fuel… Boosts demand for bio-based and farm-based energy • Biopower • On-farm wind generation • Power from captured methane (sold back to the grid) • Biofuels • Implementation of most effective policies happening at state and regional levels
Agriculture and climate legislation • Pew analyzing issues for a forthcoming paper • Key Takeaways • Regional programs important but other options ongoing • Business-driven (e.g. Walmart sustainability) • EPA • Litigation • Legislative cost containment tools minimize impact • Net economic gain for farmers is possible • Climate change poses many risk management concerns
Conclusion • Regional policies and markets continue to provide opportunities for agriculture • Regional offset markets will likely remain smaller than a federal system • Uncertainty still exists for farmers; federal legislation could provide some certainty
More information www.pewclimate.org Jessica Shipley shipleyj@pewclimate.org