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1. First project comment period a success
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2. Betting on Blair
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3. Xerox develops Sustainability Calculator for doc tech
First project comment period a success
Six weeks ago we asked the TerraPass community for comments on our new candidate projects, a first for the U.S. carbon market. Seven projects have now gone through the process, and all of them successfully "passed" this step. They will receive support from TerraPass.
TerraPass values transparency, so we've published a full summary and response to the comments we received. It's rather detailed, and it includes a number of new steps we plan to take in response to community feedback.
Participation in the comment period was well above expectations. We're impressed. We received 17 comments, several of them lengthy and all of them well thought out. Thank you to all who wrote in. Your attention will help improve TerraPass and our climate change-fighting projects. These comments will also be featured in the documents filed under the new Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), satisfying this standard's requirement for stakeholder involvement.
Being meta-nerds, we decided that we needed some comments on the comments. So we reached out to a colleague Michael Gillenwater, Dean of the Greenhouse Gas Management institute. Here's what he had to say:
I was impressed with TerraPass' new comment period. The volume of comments is similar to those we received running federal stakeholder processes, and it is clear that both the TerraPass community and TerraPass staff are taking the process seriously. Overall, its a nice step forward for the voluntary carbon market.
Cool!
Finally, what use is the stakeholder comment period if it doesn't move the ball forward? I'm happy to announce that the comments have led to substantive process changes at TerraPass:
- We had several well-informed comments about documenting both the environmental benefits and costs of a particular project. As a result of these comments, TerraPass will address more fully any environmental drawbacks of our projects when we publish our Project Information Reports.
- Two commenters worried that successful landfill gas projects could discourage landfills from creating composting programs. We agree, and have committed to emphasize the importance of composting at each of our landfill programs.
You can read more about the comments and the specifics of our process changes in the report. For those that didn't get a chance to write in, we expect to run about twenty projects through the comment system this year, so stay tuned for you chance to help.
Betting on Blair
Tony Blair announced (video) in London last week that he would lead an international effort to "break the climate deadlock." The former British prime minister will work with The Climate Group to devise a deal in which all of the world's countries, including key greenhouse gas emitters -- the United States, China, and India -- can participate.
Blair told the Guardian:
People often say to me there are a lot of climate change plans out there, and I say 'how many of them are politically doable?' So the experts are providing technical knowledge, and specialist insight, but what I am trying to do is guide it politically.
As I wrote last fall, the former PM is uniquely positioned to make this work. Knowledgeable about climate science, skilled as a diplomat on the world stage, and without the political baggage of most retired heads of state, Blair just might be able to get the job done.
Blair has set an ambitious goal: broker a global deal in time for the next U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009. The timing is critical because the Kyoto Protocol is due to expire in 2012. A new U.S. president will take office in January, and all leading candidates support cap-and-trade plans. The stars could be aligned for Tony Blair to work his magic.
Xerox develops Sustainability Calculator for doc tech
Ted Samson - Xerox
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