Dear colleagues,

There’s lots of news to share with you, so I’ll just get right to it. Thanks to a $1.4 million grant by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), VCS is teaming up with jurisdictional governments to scale up REDD+ programs around the world. Norway’s support is a major endorsement of the importance of accounting frameworks to jump start jurisdictional REDD+ programs. Additionally, VCS continues to increase the level of support we’re able to provide for stakeholders, this time by adding staff in Brazil. As you can see, 2013 is already off to a fast start!

Norwegian Government Supports Piloting of VCS Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ Framework

As I mentioned above, our Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework is being used to support development of a national JNR pilot program in Costa Rica as well as subnational programs in Brazil (Acre), Peru (Madre de Dios and San Martín) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Mai Ndombe). The NICFI grant, administered by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), won’t go towards buying credits or paying for performance; rather, it will help advance the early stages of jursidictional REDD+. Specifically, this grant will enable us to collaborate with governments and NGOs operating within these jurisdictions to create the necessary building blocks to advance national or subnational REDD+ accounting frameworks aligned with the recently released JNR requirements. More pilot programs are set to pursue development of JNR frameworks in the months to come.

Two New Agriculture Methodologies Approved

Efforts to develop the first VCS agricultural land management (ALM) project are gaining momentum with approval of two new agriculture methodologies. VM0021: Soil Carbon Quantification Methodology incentivizes activities that improve the diversity and productivity of grassland, rangeland and farmland habitats. Meanwhile, VM0022: Quantifying N2O Emissions Reductions in Agricultural Crops through Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate Reduction encourages farming practices that reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizer. These additions bring the total number of approved ALM methodologies to three, while two more continue making progress.

Project Pipeline Listing Required for New Projects

Starting this month, project proponents must list their projects on the Project Pipeline before the start of validation. The Project Pipeline lists forthcoming projects in the early development and validation stages. In addition to gaining market exposure, projects listed on the pipeline can make use of grace periods for previously put-on-hold or withdrawn methodologies. Contact a registry operator to begin the listing process, or check out the pipeline to see what projects are underway.

VCS Continues Global Growth

Finally, I’m excited to announce the addition of Sandro Marostica who joins us as our new Director for Brazil. Sandro will be working closely with project developers and other stakeholders across the country. With VCS staff already based in Chile, China and Thailand, this latest growth continues VCS efforts to support carbon markets worldwide.

With the addition of new offices around the world, we look forward to better helping stakeholders make use of VCS. If you’re attending Navigating the American Carbon World conference this week or Carbon Expo in May, please find the VCS booth and say hello. And, of course, we will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

David Antonioli