Canada's Offset Market Guides Coming Soon

2009-10-01

In June of 2009, Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced that the federal government had established a draft set of rules for claiming greenhouse gas reductions in Canada’s future carbon market.

Prentice unveiled the draft versions of two out of three documents that lay out rules and guidance for generating offset credits that represent emissions reductions. The draft version of Program Rules and Guidance for Project Proponents and the Program Rules for Verification and Guidance for Verification Bodies were made available for a 60-day public comment period. The first guide in the series, Guide for Protocol Developers, was made available in the summer of 2008.

Among the requirements set out for verification bodies is the stipulation that greenhouse gas emissions verifiers must have achieved accreditation to the ISO standard on greenhouse gas verification (ISO 14065:2007), the Standards Council of Canada procedural document, the Greenhouse Gas Accreditation Program (GHGAP) Handbook – Conditions and Procedures for the Accreditation of Greenhouse Gas Validation and Verification Bodies (CAN-P-1520), and the Canadian National Standard for Greenhouse gases: Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions (CAN/CSA-ISO 14064-3:2006).

The federal government plans to publish the final versions of all three guides in the Canadian Gazette during the autumn of 2009. Following the guides’ publication, Environment Canada plans to launch a process for the submission and review of the Offset System quantification protocols, which will explain the approach used in measuring reductions, as well as the monitoring and data management requirements that must be followed for the particular project type. Environment Canada expects the first project applications will be ready for department review in early 2010.

The National Carbon Market is an important feature of the federal government’s climate change plan. Though the government focuses primarily on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, industries will be permitted to exceed the nationally imposed limits if they purchase offset credits to compensate for excess emissions.

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This article first appeared in Volume 36 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2009.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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