I saw an article in the journal last week during the Fringe Festival that I found quite interesting. It was about Alberta’s very own Carbon Farmer selling ‘Carbon Plus Credits’ at the Fringe Festival.
My curiosity led me to the Carbon Farmer website, which by the way, I thought was very well done. However, as I do have some experience in climate change and carbon markets, two questions immediately came to mind. First, how much do the credits cost and second, are the credits certified?
Upon a quick investigation of the Carbon Farmer’s website I discovered that the credits, which give buyers the warm fuzzy feeling of offsetting 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent, are $15 each. How was this price determined? Why $15 dollars? Why not $1.50 or $150? I wonder if it has anything to do with the $15 per tonne payment option for large emitters covered under Alberta’s carbon offset system. While the question of the price remains interesting, of more concern to me was the question of verification.
I did not see any reference to third party verification on the Carbon Farmer’s website. In my mind, this is an issue. If I was a patron of the Fringe wanting to offset the mileage I used to get there and the energy used to produce my deep fried elephant ear, I would want assurance that the three trees planted by the farmer offsetting 1 tonne of Co2e, were in fact planted. In addition, how will I know that the trees will in fact do their job of carbon sequestration? As this process will not occur overnight, what mechanism is in place to ensure that the trees will be there in 2 years, 5 years and the 5o plus years of growth required for sequestering 1 tonne of CO2e? Mr. Carbon Farmer, have you heard of the mountain pine beetle or wildfire?
The Carbon Farmer has relied on a third party assessment, from an Ontario based consulting firm, to validate that the region of the boreal forest where the trees are planted do have the potential to sequester the predicted volume of carbon. The operative word in the prior sentence is ‘potential’.
Many variables are at play in carbon offsetting world and especially when involving natural systems. Unless the Carbon Plus Credit I buy from the Carbon Farmer comes with assurance that the offset is real and verifiable, I’ll look at offsetting elsewhere.
