100,000-acre Forest Carbon Project Registered
A New York based timber investment group has completed an Improved Forest Management (IFM) carbon project on over 100,000 acres in the Adirondack Mountains.
The project was registered with the Climate Action Reserve, a carbon registry that has been approved to provide carbon offset credits to the California carbon market.
By adjusting the property’s timber management plan to harvest its natural resources in a more sustainable manner, the landowners earn carbon offset credits for the tons of carbon that are stored in the trees.
Now the timber management group that owns the property will benefit from millions of dollars in revenue from the sale of carbon offset credits in addition to its traditional timber harvest.
The California carbon market that launched on January 1, 2013 requires businesses emitting over 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide to account for these emissions by purchasing carbon allowances and carbon offset credits.
According to a study by the American Carbon Registry, a subsidiary of Winrock International, the California market will demand up to 25 million carbon offset credits over the first compliance period which runs from 2013 to 2014. However the same report shows that the projected supply of carbon offsets will fall 29% short of that demand.
In December, a deal was reached for 100,000 carbon offsets for use in the California market at $11 apiece.
(1/3/13)