Carbon Markets Workshop

Carbon Markets - Expanding Opportunities/Valuing Co-benefits

Workshop Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Location: Hilton at the Ballpark, St. Louis, Missouri

Read workshop proceedings Released September 7, 2010

Joint NWF/SWCS press release on workshop

Abstract Book, Final Agenda, & Attendee List

Workshop Objectives

• Introduce innovative practices related to carbon offsets for agriculture.
• Explore co-benefits to wildlife habitat, water quality, and natural resources through improved carbon management in emerging carbon markets.

The National Wildlife Federation and the Soil and Water Conservation Society will host this one-day workshop in conjunction with the SWCS annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri on Wednesday, July 21, 2010. This event will focus on the opportunities being created by the expected passage of federal legislation creating a mandatory cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the workshop will focus on two aspects of the anticipated carbon market:

1. Innovative new practices and systems that could be developed into agriculture-related carbon offsets.  We would seek presentations that explore potential offset activities beyond no-till agriculture and that present anticipated credit generation potential, measurement and verification protocols, etc.
2. Co-benefits to wildlife, soil and water resources of measures designed to store carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and how to incent such co-benefits in the implementation of a carbon offset market.  Presentations could focus on the quantification, design or incentives for co-benefits of carbon offset practices.

The workshop will be a timely addition to the policy debate, coming either during Congressional debate over comprehensive climate change legislation, or shortly after Congress passes such legislation. Either way, the symposium will help inform the debate on carbon sequestration and related benefits.

The workshop is supported in part by a grant to the National Wildlife Federation from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Workshop Organizers:
Julie Sibbing & Ryan Stockwell (NWF) and Dewayne Johnson (SWCS)

Organizing Committee Members:
• Randal Dell (Ducks Unlimited)
• Wyatt Fraas (Center for Rural Affairs)
• Jerry Hatfield (USDA‐ARS)
• Rattan Lal (Ohio State University)
• Don Reicosky (USDA‐ARS)
• Bill White (Missouri Department of Conservation)
• Eliav Bitan (National Wildlife Federation)