Carbon Footprints

Carbon Planet is very excited to announce that the VCSA has approved our carbon accounting methodology for estimating the GHG reductions that come with transitioning a logged forest to a protected forest.

Why is this important?

Deforestation and land degradation contributes close to ¹/₅th of the world’s excess greenhouse gas emissions. Under business-as-usual the world loses a massive amount of tropical rainforest in particular every year. There are many drivers of deforestation but overwhelmingly the main driver is poverty and subsistence forest-resource dependance. Forest peoples of the world tend to be poor, tend to be exploited, and tend to earn money by ripping up their forests. REDD projects propose a mechanism, currently being run under the auspices of the VCSA, to pay forest peoples to maintain their forests using revenues derived from the sale of carbon credits called VCUs, rather than log them for short-term profits.

Until now there has been no accurate and approved way to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions reductions that come with taking a forest that is being logged, and turning it into a protected forest; a major stumbling block to project developers everywhere. Without an approved methodology there can be no project, and thus no VCUs and thus no money.

Carbon Planet’s methodology, (See The VCSA for more info,) was developed over a three year period and was designed to be highly flexible in terms of forest types, and yet highly accurate, and presented in a clear and informative manner. It clears a massive hurdle that the forest carbon market has been facing, and we fully expect to see an increasing number of quality forest carbon projects start formal development.

In its official announcement of Carbon Planet’s ‘IFM LtPF’ methodology, the VCSA makes the point:

“This offers a flexible new approach for financing projects that reduce logging in forested areas,” said VCS CEO David Antonioli. “Using carbon finance as an alternative source of income provides an important incentive for more sustainable forest management practices.”

I believe it is no idle boast to suggest that the launch of Carbon Planet’s methodology marks a great day for the forests, and forest peoples of the world.

Finally, my heartfelt and personal thanks go out to Carbon Planet’s scientific team, present and past, who have laboured so hard, under at times highly adverse conditions, to get this work done. It’s been a hard road, cutting new ground (probably the wrong metaphor I know), and experiencing first hand the trials and tribulations of forest carbon project development, and you’ve pulled through it all with a fine piece of work. Well done all of you. You have a right to feel proud of this achievement. — DS

Technorati Tags: carbon, carbon credit, climate, Climate Change, deforestation, forest carbon, forests, IFM, IFM LtPF, methodology, REDD, VCS, VCSA, VCU, VM0011

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 3:06 PM and is filed under Carbon Planet, Carbon Planet News, Forces for Good, REDD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.