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news : CLIMATE FOCUS ADVISES ON FUTURE OF CALIFORNIA’S EMISSIONS SCHEME

20 August 2010

Climate Focus and Climate Wedge presented comments to the California Environmental Protection Agency encouraging it to use the opportunity of drafting guidelines for California’s cap and trade system to exert influence on emerging international REDD mechanisms. The rules defined for AB 32’s demand for REDD offsets and internationally linked credits have the potential to shape long term sustainable and scalable REDD mechanisms and associated projects.

Following a public Workshop held July 30, 2010 by the California Air Resources Board on the design of California’s emerging cap and trade program, Climate Focus and Climate Wedge submitted comments related to sector based crediting and subnational reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). In light of uncertainty in federal US mandatory emission reduction policies, the rules developed by the California system present a critical opportunity to help frame demand for offsets from forest activities and from internationally linked REDD+ measures.  Given that effectiveness of carbon finance mechanisms rests in the details of the design of rules for compliance systems, authors Robert O'Sullivan and Alex Rao use their extensive experience in international carbon finance to provide ARB with observations on rules being considered, and develop recommendations related to three main issues:

1. Phasing in of projects on the path to subnational and regional crediting systems in international contexts;

2. Implications of how crediting baselines are defined and how this will encourage and enable emissions reductions in developing countries, and

3. Issues of encouraging private investment and risks associated with sectoral crediting options.

Read the complete Submission by Climate Focus and Climate Wedge to the Calif EPA here:

 Submission to California EPA on Sector-based crediting and subnational activities in AB32 Cap and Trade