300th project listed under ARB’s compliance offset protocol
March 14, 2016 by Rohan Nongpiur
CaliforniaCarbon.info, March 14, 2016: Last weeks listing of Coolgas 2016-1 (CAR1222) means that a total of 300 ARB compliance offset projects are currently listed with either of the three offset registries – Climate Action Reserve (CAR), American Carbon Registry (ACR) and Verified Carbon Standard.
Out of the 300 projects so far, those listed under CAR forms the overwhelming majority with 183 projects (61% of the total). A total of 104 projects (34.67%) have now been listed with ACR and the remaining 13 projects (4.3%) under VCS, account for the remainder.
In terms of project type, 164 (54.67%) of the total projects listed are forestry projects (CAR164), whereas 73 (24.33%) belong to the livestock project type. 58 (19.33%) are ODS projects and the remaining 5 (1.67%) consist of mine methane projects.
So far, 92 of the 300 projects have generated registry-offset credits (ROCs), while 85 of these projects have managed to gain California Carbon Offsets (CCOs). Although forming only 19.33% of the total number of projects listed, ODS projects consist of almost half of the ROCs and CCOs assigned to projects till date.
2016 has been a slow year in terms of new project listings with 6 projects listed so far this year, 3 each under CAR and ACR. All bar 1 of the projects listed this year have been ODS projects, out of which 4 are ODS projects located in Bowling Green Ohio and the other being a Clean Harbours project in El Dorado Arkansas.
2013 and 2014 saw 38 and 62 projects listed respectively, during these years. However, almost two-thirds (194 projects) of the total listings was observed in 2015, with October and February being the months with significantly higher numbers last year.
October, 2015 saw 79 new projects listed with the majority being improved forest management (IFM) projects, which was most likely attributed to the new common practice values (CPV) for all projects listed after Oct 31, that affect projected credit yields and financial viability. On the other hand, the 56 projects listed in February, 2015 was because project developers wanted to beat the early action conversion deadline to the ARB protocol.
Rohan Nongpiur (rohan@californiacarbon.info)
