Project Type Focus Initiatives
A collaborative approach to carbon offset protocol review, project development, and peer-review processes: Project Type Focus Initiatives.
Project Type Focus Initiatives aim to coalesce higher education’s diverse assets toward review and continued development of specific carbon offset project types.
The project type focus idea 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. To better catalyze the assets of higher education in service of the market, we facilitate collaboration across the higher education sector to vet, improve, develop and peer review offset projects within specific categories for stated periods of time.
Our current focus is 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. The dedicated focus on the IFM project type will facilitate protocol improvement and IFM project design and implementation in cooperation with US higher education institutions.
Timeline and Deliverables
The IFM Project Type Focus Initiative began in fall of 2023, and will continue until participating stakeholders agree that the work is sufficient and deliverables have been met. The timeline and deliverables proposed are as follows:
Fall 2023:
Recruitment of campuses interested in developing IFM projects in their campus forests according to a revised protocol. There was an informational meeting about campus participation. To access the recording, email mleigh@secondnature.org
2024:
Collaboration 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.
Application for funding to support project. See here for more details.
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.
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. We 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
via Zoom
At this virtual event, Second Nature provided information on the new project type focus, and shared details about the IFM 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 the inquiry stage.
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.