Bonneville Environmental Foundation is a nonprofit renewable energy marketer and retailer of Green Tags (renewable energy certificates).  We also are active in advancing public policy to protect and grow the voluntary market for Green Tags and other forms of carbon offsets. We use the net revenues from our sales of Green Tags to advance public policy objectives and fund new renewable energy projects such as the 205 MW White Creek wind farm in Washington state.

Bill Eddie, Director of Procurement, Bonneville Environmental Foundation is amongst the presenters at Voluntary Carbon Markets, New York.

What do you consider to be the most interesting developments and biggest challenges in the American voluntary carbon market at this time?
The most interesting development is the adoption and implementation of the Green-e Climate standard, which should help us through one of the biggest challenges: the lack of standardization in the market. The confusing array of overlapping standards, protocols, and registries creates consumer uncertainty in the voluntary market.

What are the challenges facing standardization of the market?
The major challenges seem to be (1) too many cooks in the kitchen (i.e. duplication of effort in the creation and promotion of standards), (2) a lack of transparency in some markets, and (3) the quest for a perfect standard becoming the enemy of a very good standard.  Industry leaders need to rally around certainty, stability, and widespread adoption of standards, which will lead to market growth for solutions to global warming pollution.  Green-e Energy has served this function admirably in the renewable energy market; Green-e Climate should do the same for the broader voluntary carbon market.

If regulated emission reductions become mandatory in the US, what does the future hold for the voluntary market?  
Provided that the laws adopting mandatory emission reductions protect the voluntary market, the future will continue to be bright.   BEF believes there will always be a strong contingent of businesses, organizations, and individuals ready to take responsibility for their climate footprints.   

What are the barriers to project developers looking to generate offsets?
Lack of standardization is a major barrier — developers are unsure what protocols to use to take a project from a good idea to a marketable offset portfolio.  Lack of price transparency and a common trading platform also are barriers.
 
What safeguards are required to ensure sustainable growth?
BEF welcomes more active oversight by voluntary marketplace certifiers such as Green-e, and regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission.  In addition, the industry needs to be watchful that proposals such as the Warner-Lieberman legislation preserve the ability for market participants to go above and beyond the legal minimum.

ENDS