Hi Jen and Morgan

 

Susan has asked me to give a short (less than 10 min) presentation at the next CRAWG/RIN meeting on Oct 6 on carbon credits.

Can you please send me the documentation you have recently created on the carbon credit history etc. I will start to put a few slides together and be in touch to discuss them with you.

 

Thanks

Madhu

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Hi Madhu,

 

I asked Miriam to start putting this information into a single document. It is not something we have created yet, but we will work on it this week.

 

Thanks,

Jen

____________

That is great. The key things I would like

The spreadsheet showing the timeline of the amount of carbon credits sold and value

A bit of history with second nature and ICAP to put on one slide 

A graph with the data on carbon reductions achieved on campus through ICAP 

A slide with key mechanisms through which we have achieved these reductions 

I am thinking  to put max 8 to 10 sides together  with a couple of slides on the 101 of why markets for carbon credits are appealing  and the role for credits and offsets for as opportunities for campus 

 I will start a slide deck with this and share this week. In the meantime if Miriam could put this info together that would be really helpful.  

Can we plan to meet next Monday for half hour to discuss the slides

Thanks

Madhu 

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Some specifics from Madhu (trailing email), and files I think will be helpful. Please focus on the following. Morgan, please weigh in on highlighted items and let me know if I missed anything.  - Jen

 

The spreadsheet showing the timeline of the amount of carbon credits sold and value – see attached.

A bit of history with second nature and ICAP to put on one slide – see attached

A graph with the data on carbon reductions achieved on campus through ICAP – portal has this, but we haven’t reported GHGs for past two years, so it is incomplete. Morgan – is there a better place to find these data?

A slide with key mechanisms through which we have achieved these reductions  - I think these are solar farms, geothermal projects, retrofitting, and other energy-related; Morgan please weigh in. Also, where can we find these data? 

----------------------

Hi Jen, Miriam, and Elizabeth,

 

I’m reviewing Jen’s email below.  Here are my comments.

 

1. The latest spreadsheet I have is attached.
   
   1. I updated it to reflect the receipt of the sales from the 1,000 sold in June. 
   2. I also updated the total for the end of FY23 in the portal at https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/carbon-credit-purchasing-program-c2p2-second-nature.

 

1. I agree the history in the campus MOU is the best resource for this.  There is more to the story, but it is kinda a convoluted mess that is probably not worth revisiting. (For example, there was an initial second nature MOU, then a revised version, then a new MOU with Second Nature…)

 

1. If there is time, I suggest Miriam contact Second Nature to confirm the official GHG report options to use in SIMAP. Then she can run the SIMAP reports for the past years and confirm what we have officially submitted per their perspective. 
   
   1. This is NOT in the C2P2 perspective, but in the Carbon Commitment perspective. 
   2. The baseline year is 2008, so we should verify our reporting for FY08 through present.
   3. We collected the previously submitted GHG reports that were done with the excel file “campus carbon calculator”. They are here: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/greenhouse-gas-ghg-emission-reports.
   4. SIMAPs info is here: https://unhsimap.org/public/institution/193?show_years=goals_end&op=Change&graph_type=bar.

 

1. With the Solar Farm 3.0 discussions in 2021, F&S put together the attached summary of emission reduction efforts.  I’ve been meaning to update it, but haven’t had a chance yet.  I think it has enough for the slides Madhu is requesting.  Don’t use the results from this word doc, as they are outdated.  Also, we lost some of the advantages when the pandemic pricing, clean energy jobs act, and war in the Ukraine impacted energy costs.

 

Let me know if you have other questions.

 

Thanks,

Morgan

----------------------

 

Hi Morgan,

 

I hope you had some time to rest today and are feeling better!

 

Once you are back online, I wanted to follow up with a question on some figures from the Carbon Credits Funding spreadsheet you shared. Madhu would like to include the total revenue from carbon credit sales in her slides. She noted it looks like there may be discrepancies between different tabs in the spreadsheet. Looking at the latest spreadsheet you shared, “Carbon Credits Funding 20230927”, Jen and I noted there is one sale figure that seems to be inconsistent across tabs: the sale of 45,450 CCs to Bluesource @ $4.00/CC. In the attached spreadsheet, I’ve highlighted the relevant numbers in yellow. The first two tabs list the revenue for this sale as $183,981.60, but the third tab lists it as $181,800. I see that $181,800 is a direct calculation is 45,450*$4. I’m not sure where the slightly larger number came from. Do you have any idea, and do you know which figure we should use to calculate total revenue from CC sales?

 

Thanks,

Miriam
 

 

Since we were talking about RECs last week, I came across this presentation that was made at ETH Chicago last week.

Regenerative Finance, Leveraging Blockchain to Digitize the Renewable Energy Marketplace

https://pretalx.com/ethchi-2023/talk/XSHZBM/

 

Also, in regard to energy conservation, Maryland provides RECs for installing geothermal systems. Could we have the Illinois Portfolio Standard do the same?

https://www.psc.state.md.us/electricity/description-documents-maryland-renewable-energy-portfolio-standard-program/geothermal-rec-frequently-asked-questions/. This would be very helpful for institutions wanting to become carbon neutral.

 

Best,

Andy

Dear Jennifer,

 

My name is Sara Berthier and I am the new events planner for the Main Library at UIUC.

I’m currently assisting interim Dean Chris Prom and associate Brent West ccd here for the organization and logistics for the next iPRES conference that will take place at the iHotel, September 19th-22nd, 2023.

 

A few of our sponsors have enquired about green sponsorships (see our sponsorship pamphlet attached, see green sponsors page 15) and were curious about any existing programs around sustainability at UIUC.

Is there a University program with carbon offsets we could buy into or an equivalent?

 

Let me know if you have any insight on this or if you have done this in the past.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you, thank you for your help!

 

Best regards,

 

SARA BERTHIER

--------------------

Thanks for forwarding, Eric.

 

Hi Sara,

 

Thank you for reaching out about buying carbon offsets. There is no existing UI program for purchasing carbon offsets. The best I can offer is a carbon offsets purchasing guide that my colleague in F&S put together: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/files/projectupdate/5747/Carbon-offsets-guide.pdf   It includes links to two websites where you can search for certified carbon offsets.

 

In the past, the University sold carbon credits and reinvested the proceeds in sustainability initiatives, but we are currently reviewing this policy and no carbon credits are being sold at this time.

 

I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out directly to me if you have any additional questions.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jennifer Fraterrigo

--------------------

Hi Jennifer,

 

Thanks for sharing this pdf, it’s super helpful.

I look into the two websites provided, we’ve also found Cool Effect to buy carbon offsets, have you heard of it?

The process seems pretty easy and other Higher Ed institutions have used it in the past.

 

Thanks for your insight,

 

Best,

 

SARA BERTHIER

--------------------

Looks like a good website! We are exploring creating a system for purchasing local offsets. Feel free to check back with me in the future if the need arises again.

 

Thanks,

Jennifer 

Attachment from Warren Lavey.

Attached is a carbon credits information sheet and resources for further learning.

On Oct 6, 2021 Jenny Kokini, Amy Rosenbery, Tony Spurlock, Morgan White, and Meredith Moore met to discuss an RFP for carbon credit replacement. Attached is a draft solicitation request.

Below is an email from the Ecosystem Marketplace: A Forest Trends Initiative. 

Dear Friends, 

Today, we are so pleased to announce our new role as part of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets’ new governance body. Michael Jenkins will serve as a member of the Senior Advisory Council, and our Ecosystem Marketplace initiative will be a Founding Sponsor. We join a diverse expert group; our shared mission is to ensure that markets keep growing with the highest level of quality and integrity possible.

Voluntary carbon markets’ recent rapid growth means this mission is all the more critical. This announcement comes a week after we published the latest State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, showing that markets are accelerating towards $1 billion in transactions in 2021. We celebrated this major milestone with 1,500 attendees from 76 countries in a seminal EM Insights Event together with our partners, supporters, friends, and network. Such significant growth positions the VCM as a serious player in green finance and an important tool for achieving the Paris Agreement's 1.5 C climate ambition.
 
As a leading and independent provider of transparency on market price and activity, we take seriously our responsibility to serve all market participants. This includes the companies investing in offsets to meet their climate commitments. It also includes stakeholders and communities in carbon credit-producing countries, who may be far from global financial centers but are central to achieving the Paris Agreement.
 
The Taskforce was initiated by Mark Carney in September 2020 as a private sector-led initiative working to scale effective and efficient voluntary carbon markets. Now, Taskforce Principals Bill Winters and Tim Adams will hand over leadership to the Governance Body Board, and work alongside us on the Senior Advisory Council. Taskforce Principal Annette Nazareth will join the Board.
 
The new Governance Body officially launches at COP-26 in Glasgow this November. Day One priorities for the Governance Body are to finalize a set of Core Carbon Principles and provide oversight of standard-setting bodies on adherence to those principles. We’ll also set threshold standards for the voluntary markets, provide a coordination function between individual bodies in the markets, and help drive a long-term strategic roadmap for scaling voluntary carbon markets.
 
Voluntary carbon markets are in a transitional moment. We look forward to working through the new Governance Body to guide the markets to deliver the highest quality and the greatest impact for both planet and people. We also look forward to sharing more with you as we move forward in this important new phase.

Michael Jenkins, CEO and Founding President
Stephen Donofrio, Director, Ecosystem Marketplace and Supply Change Initiatives
 
About Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace
Ecosystem Marketplace (EM) is an initiative of the Forest Trends Association (FT), a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1998. Forest Trends works to conserve forests and other ecosystems through the creation and wide adoption of a broad range of environmental finance, markets, and other payment and incentive mechanisms. Forest Trends does so by 1) providing transparent information on ecosystem values, finance, and markets through knowledge acquisition, analysis, and dissemination; 2) convening diverse coalitions, partners, and communities of practice to promote environmental values and advance the development of new markets and payment mechanisms; and 3) demonstrating successful tools, standards, and models of innovative finance for conservation.

EM believes that transparency is a hallmark of robust markets. Launched in 2005, the EM Global Carbon Hub is the world’s first and only independent international voluntary and compliance carbon offsets tracking, reporting, and knowledge-sharing mechanism. Globally recognized, EM drives market transparency, price discovery, and market participants’ understanding of supply, demand, and credit quality, including through recognition of core carbon and additional attributes including social, environmental, and biodiversity co-benefits that are “beyond carbon.”

The EM Global Carbon Hub is fueled by a growing global network of hundreds of EM Global Carbon Survey Respondents and is made possible with the diverse mix of support that we receive from Visionary Partners, Strategic Supporters, collaborators, and donors. With an unparalleled database that unifies carbon market data from the over the counter (OTC) and platform/exchange-traded markets, paired with rigorous research, EM is globally recognized as a leading source of decision-useful and trustworthy information on prices, regulation, science, and relevant issues on environmental services markets and climate finance. EM Data, Insights, and News have been used extensively by companies, journalists, investors, practitioners, natural resource agencies, and academics.

Now in its 16th year, EM will be continually making upgrades and adding new features to the EM Global Carbon Hub to drive radical transparency in the voluntary carbon markets (VCM) to meet growing interests for reliable, timely, and objective data and insights on VCM offsets transactions prices, volumes, and insights. The EM Global Carbon Hub will provide the needed tools and resources to enhance data collection – with this Global Carbon Survey Platform, and new accessibility capabilities – with the EM Data Intelligence & Analytics Dashboard (currently in beta testing), ensuring it will continue to deliver the best, most up-to-date, and robust data and analytics available.

 

First launched in 2005 by non-profit Forest Trends, Ecosystem Marketplace (EM) has continuously run the world’s first and only independent international carbon offsets market tracking, reporting, and knowledge-sharing mechanism. In April, EM launched its new Global Carbon Survey online platform, aimed at taking carbon market transparency to the next level.