California Issues Carbon Credits
The first carbon credits that will be available for use in the California carbon market were issued this week by the American Carbon Registry (ACR).
The ACR is one of two Offset Project Registries (OPRs) that have been approved by the California Air Resources Board (ARB), the agency responsible for implementing the state’s carbon market.
The two OPRs-the ACR and the Climate Action Reserve- have been active in the voluntary carbon credit market over the past several years and because of their experience the ARB has entrusted them with verifying and managing any carbon projects that plan to supply carbon credits to the California market.
Only a few project types have been approved by the ARB including Forestry, Livestock Methane Capture, and the Destruction of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) projects.
The ACR just issued 300,000 credits that were generated from an ODS project that destroyed harmful refrigerant gases that can be up to forty times more hazardous than carbon dioxide.
The ARB will give one final review of the credits before they accept them into their system.
The supply of carbon credits is expected to fall well short of the potential demand as regulated businesses can use credits to account for up to 8% of their annual emissions.
(8/6/13)