NEW: Project Type Focus Initiatives

The Offset Network announces a new approach to carbon offset protocol review, project development, and peer-review processes: Project Type Focus Initiatives.

Beginning in academic year 2023-2024, The Offset Network will begin to devote our main resources to a focused review of specific carbon offset project types.

This approach arose in response to demand from the higher education sector for better collective vetting of carbon offset project types, and in response to internal capacity issues. This pivot in our program offerings also hopes to better catalyze the assets of higher education in service of the market. To respond to these needs, The Offset Network Executive Committee elected to facilitate collaboration across the higher education sector to vet, improve, develop and peer review offset projects within specific categories for stated periods of time.

Beginning in fall 2023, our focus will be Improved Forest Management (IFM).

Improved Forest Management

Improved Forest Management (IFM) is a carbon offset project type that incentivizes increased stocking of trees on forested lands and well-managed timber production to effectively increase forest carbon stocks over 20+ year periods. This project type is associated with repeated over-crediting according to present day protocols on the voluntary market, presenting an opportunity for higher education to contribute to the improvement of standard protocol. Meanwhile, many higher education campuses are asking big questions about how to inventory and manage their campus forests, with offsets as part of that consideration. With a dedicated focus on the IFM project type, The Offset Network proposes to facilitate protocol improvement and IFM project design and implementation in cooperation with US higher education institutions.

Timeline and Deliverables

Beginning in the fall of 2023, The Offset Network will launch the IFM Project Type Focus Initiative, and will continue this focus until participating stakeholders agree that the work is sufficient and deliverables have been met. The proposed timeline and deliverables are as follows:

Fall 2023:

  • The Offset Network will recruit campuses who may be interested in developing IFM projects in their campus forests according to a revised protocol. There will be an informational meeting about campus participation, as well as a more in-depth webinar about IFM in fall 2023, and an in-person peer verification training opportunity in Spring 2024.

spring 2024:

  • The Offset Network is collaborating with academic experts including forestry faculty, extension personnel, and offset experts to review existing IFM methodology. This work will happen in collaboration with The Berkeley Carbon Trading Project in partnership with Dr. Barbara Haya, and the UC Center for Climate Justice in partnership with Dr. Tracey Osborne.

  • Once the academic working group has convened, we will hold a meeting between the researchers and the interested campuses to discover specific needs and aligned interests.

FALL 2024 or SPRING 2025

Campuses well positioned to participate in project development will begin establishing their project boundaries, calculating their forest inventory and establishing baseline calculations for their projects. Our goal is to recruit 3-5 campuses to develop IFM projects as part of this initial focus initiative. The Offset Network will work to facilitate validation of each project, provide technical assistance to campus liaisons in project monitoring and implementation according to the protocol, and facilitate peer-review of project offsets.

Important dates:

September 27, 2023 2:30pm EST : Introductory Info Session for Campuses (Register here)
via Zoom

At this virtual event, The Offset Network will provide information on the new project type focus, and share details about the IFM initiative. We will also detail what campuses can expect, and when, if they want to develop IFM projects as part of the initiative. This meeting was recorded. Contact mleigh@secondnature.org if you would like to access the recording and join the group of campuses involved in this initiative

Spring 2024. Date TBD: Meeting between academic advisors and campuses

At this virtual event, academic working group members can share updates about their review of IFM and forest management offset potential, and will hear from campuses about their specific needs and contexts.


Questions?

Contact Meredith Leigh (mleigh@secondnature.org) or visit our updated FAQ.