Last year NCX started out on a journey to gain certification on a new approach to forest carbon offset crediting. As a team who worked in forestry and consulted on forest carbon markets for the past decade, we saw an opportunity to improve outcomes for the climate and forest landowners through increased rigor and precision measurements.
In May of 2021 our Concept Note for a new VCS methodology was accepted and we are excited to share the next stage of our certification journey. The Methodology for Improved Forest Management Through Targeted, Short-Term Harvest Deferral is open for public consultation until 22 April 2022. The methodology enables the quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from deferring harvests for a specified time. It is applicable to projects in all forest types, including plantation forests, where appropriate data sources and quantification techniques are available. Our proposed methodology relies on a performance method for demonstrating additionality and selecting the crediting baseline.
The new methodology NCX is proposing innovates on the foundations of other methodologies and does this in multiple facets, including:
- Tonne-year accounting
- Annually updated baselines
- Baselines set at a resolution aligned with the scale of forest management decision-making
- Model-based integration of field measurements and remote sensing data for measurement and monitoring
As always, we welcome and value feedback. We are all on this journey together. You can learn more about the details of the proposed methodology by watching the recording of Verra’s recent webinar or email me questions to nan@ncx.com.
