isramart Canada publishes draft offset guidelines

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Canada has published new guidelines for an offsets system under a national carbon trading regime.

The environment ministry released new draft documents that set out the rules for generating offsets and how to verify eligible projects.

The offset system will be part of a mandatory national carbon trading program in Canada, which is part of the government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020.

The carbon trading program would allow emitters to buy and sell emissions allowances and purchase offsets to comply with their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

It is not yet clear how many offsets the Canadian government will allow covered entities to use for compliance.

Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the government will lay out a full suite of greenhouse gas regulations by the Copenhagen UN climate meeting in December this year.

Among the government’s new guidelines for the offset system are that projects must have started on or after 1 January, 2006.

Greenhouse gas emissions reductions from offset projects must also have occurred on or after 1 January, 2011.

Home grown

All offsets must be generated from projects based in Canada.

Among the eligible project types are forest sink projects, including afforestation, avoided deforestation and forest management.

Eligible agricultural projects include reducing the intensity of tillage operations and soil sequestration.

The ministry has listed various existing protocols that can be adapted for Canadian projects.

It said protocols designed by Alberta’s environment ministry for afforestation, landfill gas and combustion, reduced or no tillage, wind and anaerobic biodigester projects can be adapted for its offsets system.

California-based Climate Action Reserve’s forest sector protocol can also be adapted for its offset program, it said.

The public has 60 days to comment on the draft offset guidelines.

The ministry said it expects to publish final versions of the proposals in the fall of this year.