A5.4 Monetize ecosystem services
Expand market-based approaches (e.g., carbon credits trading) for ecosystem services.
City Forest Credits, in Seattle, provides a mechanism through which companies can purchase verified City Forest Carbon + Credits to pay for the carbon sequestration from urban forestry projects, like this one in Shoreline.
There’s an overview of the issues for US forests, with links to current programs, at the Climate Trust’s Forest Carbon Projects FAQ. The State of California’s Climate Action Reserve project is now in the process of finalizing the fifth version of its forest project protocol, which establishes eligibility and accounting requirements for the calculation of emissions removals and reductions associated with reforestation, improved forest management, and avoided conversion projects.
Last session’s HB2047, included provisions to require DNR to help interested owners of forest land connect with existing carbon markets and other incentive-based carbon emission reduction and sequestration programs. (It passed out of committee but didn’t make it out of House Rules before cutoff.)
Finite Carbon, one of the largest companies brokering US forest offsets, has managed a couple of large forest offset projects for Eastern Washington tribes.