The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards

The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards

When, why and how to use CCB Standards

Joanna Durbin

Director, Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance

Land-based Options for Mitigating Climate Change

Reducing carbon emissions by:- Preventing or reducing deforestation

or other carbon-rich natural habitat conversion

- Improving soil management & reduced nitrogen fertilizer use

Increasing carbon uptake through:- Reforestation, afforestation and

forest restoration- Improved forest management- Integration of trees into agricultural

systems (agro-forestry)

Negative Clearance of natural

ecosystems Threats to endangered species Reduced water

regulation/quality Loss of natural pollination Exclusion from land and

resources Non-respect of customary

tenure/rights New influences (immigration,

revenues, power) can degrade traditions and cause social conflicts

Land-based carbon activities have great potential impact on people and

biodiversity

Positive

Watershed & soil protection Agricultural productivity

enhancement Employment or new

livelihoods Revenue sharing Biodiversity conservation Continued use of forest

products Maintenance of traditional

livelihoods and culture

Land-based carbon activities have great potential impact on people and

biodiversity

The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance

Alliance Members

Advisors Mission: To catalyze the creation of a robust, global carbon market for land-based activities that simultaneously benefit the global climate, local communities and biodiversity

Baselines & Additionality careful site selection

Measurement & Monitoring apply best practices

Offsite impacts (leakage) build in sustainable livelihoods

Permanence long-term management, community incentives, buffers

Negative tradeoffs design for multiple-benefits

Project design and implementation is key

Two-Year International Stakeholder Process

• Public and expert comments

• Field testing- Tanzania - Peru

- Bolivia - Ecuador

- Indonesia - Scotland

• Independent peer review– ICRAF– CATIE– CIFOR

• First Edition released May 2005

• Translated into Chinese, French and Spanish

• Further revisions are planned

-CCB Standards are applied up front

-Identify and validate high quality project design

-Encourage sensitive and integrated design to generate positive social and biodiversity impact

-Stimulate investment in project development and ex-ante carbon

-AND attract investors interested in multiple benefits

-Stimulate investor preference/potential price premium

-Attract co-funding for community and biodiversity benefits eg from Govts, overseas development assistance, NGOs,

CCB Standards are project design standards

Baselines & Additionality

How can high quality project design and multiple-benefits reassure an investor?

Additionality – many multiple-benefit projects are not entirely commercially driven thus would not make economic sense without carbon funding

Leakage – building sustainable livelihoods around project site reduces risks of shifting destructive practices elsewhere, off-site impacts must be defined and monitored

Permanence – ecological stability & community incentives increase prospects for durability, and buffers can be employed as insurance against loss

CCBS build confidence in forest carbon

Baselines & Additionality community and biodiversity impacts are clarified - Baselines, methodologies, expected impacts and monitoring plans

Why would investors be interested in additional benefits?

Avoid negative social/environmental impacts

Community incentives and sustainable landscapes can help reduce risks to carbon of permanence and leakage

Marketing ‘story’

Multiple objectives for corporate social responsibility to appeal to consumers/staff/regulators,

Can improve credentials to enable greater access or license to operate

CCBS demonstrate community and biodiversity benefits


• Independent 3rd party validation

G1. Original Conditions at Project Site Required

G2. Baseline Projections Required

G3. Project Design & Goals Required

G4. Management Capacity Required

G5. Land Tenure Required

G6. Legal Status Required

G7. Adaptive Management for Sustainability 1 point

G8. Knowledge Dissemination 1 point

General CriteriaGeneral CriteriaGeneral criteria

C1. Net Positive Climate ImpactsRequired

C2. Offsite Climate Impacts (“Leakage”)Required

C3. Climate Impact Monitoring Required

C4. Adapting to Climate Change & Variability 1 point

C5. Carbon Benefits Withheld from Reg. Markets 1 point

Climate CriteriaClimate CriteriaClimate criteria

Climate CriteriaClimate CriteriaC1. Net Positive Climate Impacts Required

ConceptThe project must generate net positive impacts on atmospheric concentrations of

greenhouse gases (GHGs) within the project boundaries and over the project lifetime.

Indicators

1) Use the methodologies of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Good Practice Guidance (IPCC GPG) to estimate the net change in carbon stocks due to the project activities. The net change is equal to carbon stock changes with the project minus carbon stock changes without the project (the latter having been estimated in G2). Alternatively, any methodology approved by the CDM Executive Board may be used. This estimate must be based on clearly defined and defendable assumptions about how project activities will alter carbon stocks and non-CO2 GHG emissions over the duration of the project or the project accounting period.

2) Factor in the non-CO2 gases CH4 and N2O to the net change calculations (above) if they are likely to account for more than 15% (in terms of CO2 equivalents) of the project’s overall GHG impact.

3) Demonstrate that the net climate impact of the project (including changes in carbon stocks, and non-CO2 gases where appropriate) will give a positive result in terms of overall GHG benefits delivered.

CM1. Net Positive Community Impacts Required

CM2. Offsite Community ImpactsRequired

CM3. Community Impact MonitoringRequired

CM4. Capacity Building 1 point

CM5. Best Practices in Community Involvement 1 point

Community CriteriaCommunity CriteriaCommunity criteria

Community CriteriaCommunity CriteriaCM3. Community Impact Monitoring Required

ConceptThe project proponents must have an initial monitoring plan to quantify and

document changes in social and economic wellbeing resulting from the project activities (within and outside the project boundaries). The monitoring plan should indicate which measurements will likely be taken and which sampling strategy will be used to determine how the project affects social and economic wellbeing. Since developing a full community-monitoring plan can be costly, it is accepted that some of the plan details may not be fully defined at the design stage, when projects are being evaluated by the CCB Standards. This will especially be true for small-scale projects.

Indicators 1) Have an initial plan for how they will select community variables to

be monitored, and the frequency of monitoring. Potential variables include income, health, roads, schools, food security, education and inequality. Community variables at risk of being negatively impacted by project activities should be monitored.

B1. Net Positive Biodiversity Impacts Required

B2. Offsite Biodiversity Impacts Required

B3. Biodiversity Impact MonitoringRequired

B4. Native Species Use 1 point

B5. Water & Soil Resource Enhancement 1 point

Biodiversity CriteriaBiodiversity CriteriaBiodiversity criteria

The CCB Standards - validation procedure

1. Internal desk review

2. Contract 3rd party validator (CDM or FSC accredited) and provide docs

3. PDD and supporting docs posted to CCBA website for 21 day public comment period

4. Validator site visit

5. Audit report – may require changes to PDD or further documentation

6. Improved PDD/documents submitted as required

7. Validator issues statement of compliance and level (approved, silver or gold)

The CCB Standards – progress on adoption

Project Development: – Two projects validated: Tengchong and Panama– Five posted for public comment; Tanzania, India,

UK, Indonesia, Nicaragua– Around 80 projects planning to use CCBS– Represents estimated vast majority AFOLU under

devpt– CCBS covers all AFOLU: A/R, AD, and forest

management– Useful for voluntary and regulatory markets

Demand:– Major portfolio investors: World Bank BioCF,

EcoSecurities– Carbon retailers (e.g., Carbon Neutral Company,

The CarbonFund, 3 degrees, 3C)– Major corporations + carbon tenders: Dell, Mariott,

Ricoh, – 54% prefer CCB projects, 40% willing to pay

premium– $1-2/tonne premium– $5-15/tonne CO2 equivalent – Currently greater demand than supply for CCB

carbon

Enables ex-post carbon sales

Carbon verification standard

Timeline for application of CCB Standards

CCBS

Project Design Phase Project Implementation

CCBS Validation enables ex-ante carbon sales and up front investment to implement project

CCBS

Verifies that project has been implemented according to design, verifies monitoring reports of carbon, community and biodiversity benefits, validates adaptation of project design

5 years

~5-10 years for restoration,~1-5 years for RED before sufficient carbon benefits on ground to verify

Description Project types – includes land-

based?

Carbon verification

Environmental and social benefits

Geographical reach

CCBS Multiple-benefit project design standard

All land-based projects

No Yes Global

VCS Carbon verification standard for voluntary market

All types carbon offset

Yes No Global

Gold Standard

Multiple-benefit project design standard

Energy only In development

Yes Global

CDM Kyoto-compliant scheme

Includes A/R Yes - VERs No Developing countries

CCX Internal system for CCX offset projects

Includes A/R and AD

Yes ? Global

Plan Vivo Project development support for multiple-benefit

Community-based agro-forestry

Yes Yes Global (3 projects to date)

Greenhouse Friendly

Certification for offsets and carbon neutral


Yes No Australia

CCAR A registry protocol Forestry Yes No California

VER+ Certification for offsets, carbon neutral


Yes No Global

Social Carbon

Methodology and certification for multiple-benefit land-based project


In development

Yes (more social)

South America and Portugal to date

• Promote excellence and innovation in project design

• Identify projects that simultaneously address climate change, support local communities and conserve biodiversity

• Provide investors with risk management tool

• Enhance the credibility of carbon forestry sector

• Facilitate bundling and stacking of PES


More information available from…

www.climate-standards.org

Joanna DurbinDirector, CCBA

Email: [email protected] Cell: + 1 703 623 4441

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards