17 June 2010 M-Agg Washington, DC VCS Agricultural Land Management

The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) Established by leading NGOs (IETA, WBCSD, The Climate Group, WEF) to: Provide a rigorous, trustworthy and innovative global standard and validation and verification program for GHG offsets Managed by the VCS Association Non-profit headquartered in Washington, DC Single focus – to develop and manage the platform (i.e., no consulting, no meth development, no validation/verification, no project development) Funded through VCU levy and foundation grants AFOLU Steering Committee largely credited with bringing in land-based activities into the carbon market

VCS AFOLU Project types Agricultural Land Management (ALM) Improved Cropland Management Improved Grassland Management Cropland and Grassland Land-use Conversions Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) Improved Forest Management (IFM) Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation (REDD) Key components Permanence: Risk Assessment and AFOLU Pooled Buffer Account Leakage: Activity shifting and market leakage must be minimized and accounted for Optionality for demonstrating social/biodiversity benefits

The VCS Infrastructure Double Approval Process VCS Program Gap Analysis Registries Temporary Accreditation Process VCS Program Oversight

Double Approval Process Double Approval Process for new methodologies Bottom-up process to foster innovation within a context of quality, credibility and transparency Requires: Public comment period (30 days) Assessment by 2 validators with agreement on the final version of the methodology AFOLU methodologies require at least one validator to have a VCS-approved AFOLU Expert in the project type (e.g. ALM) At least one validator must have completed 10 validations Currently undergoing the double approval process: 19 methodologies including 12 AFOLU methodologies (2 ALM, 1 ARR, 5 REDD, 4 IFM)

Double Approval Process

ALM Methodologies Current ALM methodologies: Quantifying GHG Emission Reductions from the Production and Incorporation of Soil of Biochar in Agricultural and Forest Management Systems Developed by Carbon Gold Applies to projects that increase the carbon stocks in soils by treating crop residues or other biomass produced as part of agricultural activities or forest management through controlled pyrolysis Status: 1 st Assessment

ALM Methodologies Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Land Management (SALM) Developed by World Bank BioCarbon Fund Applies to projects that reduce emissions or increase soil c stocks in agriculture by applying sustainable land management practices (SALM) Uses input parameters to existing analytic models (RothC or Century) for estimation of organic soil C density at equilibrium in each of the identified management practices in each of the land use categories Based on the "Western Kenya Smallholder Agriculture Carbon Finance Project” Status: 1 st Assessment

Developments Further guidance on: Measurement and modelling Model calibration Quantification of uncertainty New project types Avoided conversion of grasslands, shrublands, wetlands New Methodologies: Additional ALM methodologies in pipeline New methodology template Compensation mechanism for new methodologies Incentivize methodologies with broader scope Help developers recover some of the cost

Thank you Naomi Swickard AFOLU Program Coordinator Voluntary Carbon Standard Association 1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW Suite 803 Washington, DC Tel: