Maine offset developer plans to use California carbon revenue to expand forestry project
November 25, 2013 by cCarbon.info
CaliforniaCarbon.info, 25 November 2013: Downeast Lakes Land Trust, one of the first project owners to be issued early action offsets under the California cap-and-trade scheme’s US Forest Protocol, has already drawn up plans to re-invest the proceeds from the first offset sales into the expansion of its projects base.
The Finite Carbon Farm Cove Community Forest Project, located in Maine, was issued 242,131 California carbon offsets (CCOs) by the Air Resources Board on 12 November 2013. The offsets generated by the project are being managed by Finite Carbon Corporation. Two companies have contracted to purchase these offsets, which they value at about $2 million.
Located on 19,118 forested acres owned and managed by Downeast Lakes Land Trust, the Farm Cove Project was the first Climate Action Reserve Improved Forest Management project developed and registered outside of California.
Downeast Lakes Land Trust has now announced that it plans to funnel $1 million of the carbon offset revenue towards the purchase of nearly 22,000 acres of woodland. The existing project land is located on the western side of the West Grand Lake in Maine, while the proposed project is located east of the West Grand Lake.
Meanwhile, Finite Carbon has revealed that it is working to get ten more forestry projects approved under the offsets program of the California cap-and-trade scheme by the end of 2014. The company has registered at least seven projects, in addition to the one in Maine, based on the Improved Forest Management protocol of the Climate Action Reserve. Of these, the Potlatch Moro Big Pine project has also been listed as an early action project by the ARB. The seven projects, apart from the project based in Maine, have so far been issued a total of over 1.1 million Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs). From the monetization estimates provided by Downeast Lakes Land Trust, these offsets could be worth over $11 million.
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