The Verified Carbon Standard: Scaling up MRV

1. The Verified Carbon Standard: Scaling up MRV REDD-plus after Cancun: Moving from Negotiation to Implementation Hanoi, Vietnam Naomi Swickard, AFOLU Manager

2. Overview • 1) The Verified Carbon Standard • 2) VCS Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) • Methodologies • MRV • 3) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD • MRV

3. The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) • Established by leading NGOs (IETA, WBCSD, The Climate Group, WEF) to provide a rigorous, trustworthy and innovative global standard and validation and verification program for GHG offsets • Managed by the VCS Association • Non-profit headquartered in Washington, DC • Single focus:to develop and manage the platform (i.e., no consulting, no meth development, no validation/verification, no project development) • Funded through VCU levy and foundation grants • AFOLU Steering Committee largely credited with bringing in land-based activities into the carbon market

4. VCS Projects Registered projects Over 600 Registered Projects (12 AFOLU projects) Registered AFOLU projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Colombia, Guatemala and Australia Volumes Over 56 million VCUs issued (over 2.1 million from AFOLU) 450 projects have issued VCUs AFOLU pooled buffer account holds ~512,000 buffer credits Projects under development Dozens of AFOLU projects under development in Indonesia, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, DRC, South Africa, Kenya, and many more...

5. AFOLU Requirements ARR Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation ALM Agricultural Land Management IFM Improved Forest Management REDD Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation PRC Peatland Rewetting and Conservation Rewetting of drained peatland; conservation of undrained or partially drained peatland

6. VCS AFOLU Key Components • Key components • AFOLU Requirements include robust approaches to: • Permanence: Risk Assessment and AFOLU Pooled Buffer Account • Leakage: Activity shifting and market leakage must be minimized and accounted for • Updated leakage requirements to be released for public comment May 2011 and adopted mid 2011 • Most int’l developers are adding CCBS to VCS validations to demonstrate social and environmental co-benefits (VCU tag)

7. VCS Methodologies 15 approved VCS methodologies (9 AFOLU) Improved Forest Management (IFM) (5) Reduced Emissions from Forest Degradation and Deforestation (REDD) (4) Mosaic Planned and Unplanned Deforestation Degradation On peatland 17 methodologies under development (9 AFOLU) Soil carbon Reduction of N2O fertilizer application Improved grassland grazing and fire management Rice cultivation management systems Reduction of CH4

8. MRV: Project Level • Monitoring requirements • Methodologies set out: • Data and parameters to be monitored • Criteria and procedures for project monitoring plan, including: • Procedures for estimation, modelling or calculation of C stocks and stock change • Procedures for managing data • Monitoring frequency • Validation and Verification • Conducted by accredited independent 3rd party auditors • Registration (reporting) • Projects required to register with one of 3 VCS registries (NYSE Blue, CDC, Markit) • Public documents: project description, monitoring report, validation and verification reports, representations, GPS coordinates

9. 3) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD Initiative • REDD Readiness • Top Down • VCS Initiative • CLUA funding • Good practice and VCS Criteria for: • Jurisdictional programs • Jurisdictional baselines • Crediting at different scales • Jurisdiction-Level Programs • ? • Individual REDD Projects Δ Δ Δ Δ Δ • Bottom Up

10. Jurisdictional and Nested REDD • Objectives • Establish Good Practice Guidance for nesting of project activities within REDD programs at the jurisdiction (region, state, province, country) level • Establish VCS criteria to enable crediting to VCS REDD projects and jurisdictional programs • Establish VCS criteria for the creation/use of jurisdictional baselines • Process • Establishment of Advisory Committee and Technical Experts groups, include representatives from Indonesia, Ethiopia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, UK, USA, Colombia, France, DRC, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador and several others • Peer review and public consultations • Timing: Expected late 2011 orearly 2012

11. MRV: Jurisdictional and Nested REDD • Scope • RED, REDD, REDD+? • Jurisdiction vs. project • Monitoring requirements • What is required, who should do it, how often? • MRV at different scales (national, subnational, project) • Verification • What is required, who should do it, how often? • Registration (reporting) • Registration of jurisdictional programs, jurisdictional baselines • National/Jurisdictional registries

12. Thank you Naomi Swickard AFOLU Manager nswickard@v-c-s.org Bangkok, Thailand Mobile +66 (0) 87 980 9220 Office +1 202 657 4767 VCS Association 1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW Suite 803 Washington, DC 20036 www.v-c-s.org