1	Sources and Sinks Jeni Wightman, Consultant Central NY Resource Conservation and Development (CNY RC&D) Clean Air Council, Norristown, PA November 8, 2006
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17	Mitigation Options Increase Efficiency Reduce Nitrogen Use Reduce Energy Use Manage Manure Develop Renewable Energy Manage Forests
18	RGGI Regulates Electric Sector
19	Electricity is Regulated First RGGI regulates only the electric sector Electricity contributes ~23% of State emissions For the quantity to be regulated, there are relatively few power plants Easy records to follow, relatively easy to regulate. Anything farms or other sectors do at this time to reduce greenhouse gases is voluntary
20	Offsets: How Ag Trades Carbon Electric plants are the first to be regulated. The power plants can 1) reduce their own emissions or 2) buy another plants allowances 3) buy offsets from greenhouse gas emission reductions outside of the electric sector 3% of the electric sector emissions can be met by offsets under RGGI (the rest must be resolved within the electric sector). Effectively 30% of the 2019 cap can be met by offsets. Offsets are greenhouse gas reductions achieved by non-regulated market participants. Greenhouse gas mitigation achieved by non-regulated parties can be purchased as offsets by a regulated power plant to meet the required cap.
21	Why Trade Your Credits? With RGGI, Power plants have to either Reduce their own emissions OR Buy their emissions units from somewhere else (allowances or offsets) Landowners can sell their emissions reductions (offsets) to power plants.
22	RGGI Offsets Energy Efficiency Manure Methane Destruction Afforestation
23	Chicago Climate Exchange Energy Efficiency Soil Carbon: No-Till and Grass Cover Forestation and Forestry Enrichment Renewable Energy Agricultural Methane
24	Where to Your Sell Credits? Renewable energy (CCX) Energy efficiency (RGGI, CCX) Forest management (RGGI, CCX) Methane destruction (RGGI, CCX) Soil Carbon: No-Till, Grass Cover (CCX)
25	Trading Options/Rules There are several potential markets Each market has different rules Types of credits (anaerobic digestion, forestry) Start date (of farm activity) Price per carbon credit Until there is a single market, differently acting farms can seek out the best options Example, Start Date: Bob Aman, installed digester 3 months before CCX startdate, he can sell on the ED publicly traded site for individuals. Patterson Farms installed their digester 1 month before RGGI startdate, their credits are eligible for CCX or ED but not RGGI.
26	What are credits worth?
27	What is Aggregation? Generally, a single farm does not have significant quantity of credits for a saleable trade. Aggregation is a way of collecting the individual farm credits through a broker and selling them to a large buyer.
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29	How credits get sold First, farm/land activities are evaluated. If the activities are eligible then the practice is documented (share information with an aggregator). This is called a baseline. Aggregator draws up a contract. If participant agrees, contract is sent to verifier. Certified 3^rd party verifier reviews contract and visits site to inspect. If the activities are acceptable, verifier sends letter to aggregator and registry verifying the credits. The registry lists the tons on their exchange. A buyer purchase the credits and credits are retired.
30	Considerations 1) Baseline records are very important 2) Carbon-trading is a FUTURES market 3) There are several markets/options 4) Different kinds of credits have different requirements/costs 5) The arena is rapidly changing
31	Top Three Agriculture will be intimately affected by climate variations All greenhouse gases need to be considered when evaluating offset sales Energy conservation is essential for environmental protection and social well being In 1900, 90% of NYS was deforested, with 1/2 the population and I’m guessing 1/10 the per capita consumption. And that was to build and heat our homes, feed our communities and fuel our horses.
32	Anecdote Cornell University has agreed to reduce its emissions. Why? Student activists or financial gain? While the stock market is sputtering along, energy efficiency improvements are earning CU 10-20% return on investment (not including energy price increases). Building energy efficient infrastructure now will go a long distance to protecting our natural resources.
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