Date post: | 21-Nov-2014 |
Category: |
Education |
Upload: | institute-of-the-environment |
View: | 1,245 times |
Download: | 5 times |
1 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712 What is Environmental Credit Stacking?
2 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712 The Crux of Stacking
Can you get paid twice for the same conservation action?
• Drive to maximize Economic Returns • Concern over Ecological Validation • Development of Policy
3 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Agencies: Regulatory agencies need to ensure that the credits appropriately offset impacts. This can be challenging even in one market type. When credits are stacked the question of “additionality” becomes even more prominent.
• Landowners: Shouldn’t credit producers expect to be
compensated for the range of environmental benefits they support?
• Project Managers: Even in the absence of clear direction from agencies and standard protocols, pilot projects are proceeding to test the possibilities of credit stacking.
• Ecosystems: Credits represent mitigation. When credits are stacked, so are the risks to the ecosystem if credits fail.
Perspectives and Responsibilities
4 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Van Vleck Ranch Mitigation Bank (CA) – Wetland and vernal pool fairy shrimp credits
Stacking scenarios: Wetlands and endangered species
Source: Westervelt Ecological Services
http://www.wesmitigation.com/mitigation-conservation-projects/van-vleck-ranch-mitigation-bank.cfm#page=photos
5 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Neu-Con Umbrella Wetland Mitigation and Stream Restoration Bank (NC) – Wetland and nutrient offset credits
Stacking scenarios: Wetlands and water quality
Source: North Carolina State University
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~grhess/PhotoOfTheMonth/archive/
6 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Spellbottom Mitigation Bank (TX) – Temporary Storage of Surface
Water (TSSW) – Maintenance of Plant and Animal
Communities (MPAC) – Removal and Sequestration of
Elements and Compounds (RSEC)
Stacking scenarios: Wetland functions
Source: Mitigation Solutions USA
http://www.msusa.com/banks/texas/SpellbottomMitigationBank_Map.html
7 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712 Stacking scenarios:
Multiple species (federal)
8 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Lyonia Preserve (FL)
Stacking scenarios: Multiple species (federal and state)
Source: Volusia County Florida
www.volusia.org
9 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Florida Panther Conservation Bank – Panther credits and
reservation of right to seek carbon credits in the future
Stacking scenarios: Endangered species and carbon
Source: The Florida Panther Conservation
http://pantherconservation.com/
10 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• Maryland’s (nascent) water quality trading program
Stacking scenarios: Water Quality Phosphorous and Nitrogen
Chesapeake Bay
Source: Fairfax County
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/environmental/cbay/
11 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Accounting Units & Defensible Stacking Scenarios
• Species • Wetlands • Carbon • Water Quality
Bundles of Ecosystem Values (Acres)
Defined Accounting Units (tons, pounds)
Based on our analysis, the most appropriate credit stacking scenario is when the accounting units are pollutant-specific, such as pounds of nitrogen in water quality trading, and tons of CO2 equivalents in carbon markets.
12 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712 Discussion …
13 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
Consideration 1: Ecosystem credits that consist of a suite of functions should not be stacked and unbundled.
Consideration 2: Stacking and unbundling credits should not result in habitat loss.
Consideration 3: Managing the site for one credit type should not denigrate the ecological values represented by other credit types.
Considerations for a Credit Stacking Protocol
“Credit stacking could provide great economic incentives for effective conservation, but only after the fundamental considerations
described here are addressed.”
14 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
Consideration 4: Regulatory agencies need the resources and capacity to confirm the ecological validity of the transactions.
Consideration 5: Any stacking and unbundling of credits should be transparent.
Consideration 6: Tests for additionality should be applied.
Considerations for a Credit Stacking Protocol
15 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phone: 877-789-2085 Attendee PIN: 7712
• While environmental markets can be flexible to accommodate social and economic elements such as price, infrastructure, and mechanics, they need to maintain basic scientific integrity and defensibility.
• While the perspectives of the buyer, seller, and regulator are important in these markets, the quality of the credits needs to be ensured.
• The validity of credit stacking boils down to appropriate mitigation: do the credits appropriately mitigate the impacts that they are intended to offset?
The Bottom Line on Credit Stacking