New guide aimed at helping ID greenhouse opportunities

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Copyright Farm Week

As the White House outlined its greenhouse gas reduction goals, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University last week unveiled a new guide aimed at helping farmers participate profitably.

The guide, entitled Harnessing Forests and Farms in the Low Carbon Economy: How to Create and Verify Greenhouse Gas Offsets, is to be available in June.

It is the culmination of efforts by scientists from Duke, Princeton, Kansas State, Stanford, Brown, Texas A&M, and Colorado State universities. Environmental Defense, a group of scientists and economists, partnered on the project.

The guide explains how farmers and foresters can convert carbon dioxide storage capacity and reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, into revenue-generating “offsets” that can be bought and sold in future carbon markets.

Nicholas Institute Director Tim Profeta anticipates approval of federal legislation to create a carbon trading system within the next year or two.

Profeta sees opportunities to reduce methane emissions from livestock operations, and recommended landowners plant trees on currently non-forested acres and “transfer large volumes of carbon dioxide” through biomass crop production.

“There lies this enormous potential for owners and managers of farmlands and forests to participate in the solution,” he said.

“These activities can make an enormous difference in reducing the global warming threat, and under the right system, they can generate entirely new sources of revenue for rural America.

“Farmers and foresters need information on exactly what practices will bring what types of productions, exactly how much they are reducing, and what those reductions are going to be worth,” he said.

The guide will provide an overview of potential offset markets; “non-technical” discussion of the offset process for project developers, investors and offset purchasers; and information on quantifying and verifying offsets.

For a preview of the guide, visit the Nicholas Institute at { www.env.duke.edu/institute/ghgoffsetsguide/index.html} .

Copies will be available at $60 each through Duke University Press { www.dukeupress.edu} . – Martin Ross