Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Offset Protocols and Florida’s Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Program

Kelly StevensMeteorologist

Division of Air Resource Management

Background• Florida Climate Protection Act requires DEP

to generally consider cost containment mechanisms for any draft rule proposal for GHG cap-and-trade program for electric utilities

• May 24, 2010 released our Comparative Study of Selected Offset Protocols for Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Reporting Programs

• Accessible at: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/air/rules/ghg/electric.htm

Offsets• Reduce or sequester greenhouse gas

emissions at any non-capped location• e.g. landfill gas capture of methane, forest

sequestration of CO2

• Offers choice for regulated entities • Protocols are the set of directions or

recommendations for an offset project• Can vary from highly technical and

specific to more general and suggestive

Purpose of this study• What this study is NOT:

• Evaluate program level issues• Evaluate cap-and-trade program issues• Policy or policy recommendations

• What this study is:• Evaluation of technical elements • Highlights similarities and differences• Informative & unique• Guide for future stakeholder discussion

Table 0.1 — Protocols by Project Type

Alberta OffsetSystem

American Carbon Registry

Chicago Climate

Exchange

Clean Development Mechanism

Climate Action

Reserve

GE Energy Financial Services

New South Wales

RegionalGreenhouse

GasInitiative

U.S. DOE 1605(b)

U.S. EPA Climate Leaders

Voluntary Carbon

Standard

AOS ACR CCX CDM CAR GE AES NSW RGGI DOE EPA CL VCS

Forestry

Agriculture

Waste

Management

Miscellaneous

In Study

Table 0.1 — Protocols by Project Type l Approved £ Under

development ¡ Considered for future

AOS ACR CCX CDM CAR GE AES NSW RGGI DOE EPA CL VCS

Afforestation/reforestation £ l l l l ¡ l l l l l

Forest management l l l l £ lForest conservation and preservation l l l ¡ l l

Forest products* l l l

Urban forestry £ l l l

Manure management l £ l l l l l l l

Agriculture land management l £ l ¡ l l

Rangeland management ¡ £ l ¡ l l

Landfill gas capture l £ l l l l l l l l

Waste and wastewater management l l £ l l l

End-use energy efficiency £ ¡ l l l l

Ozone depleting substances l l £ l l

SF6-related projects l l l

Geologic sequestration l £ lCement plants £ l

Landfill Gas Capture

• Byproducts of decomposing material in landfills is CO2 and methane

• Landfill gas capture as a GHG offset involves collecting LFG for destruction or use

Image from EPA: http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-info/lfg.html#05

LFG Capture – Table SampleTable 3.1 Waste Management Offsets

Chicago Climate Exchange Clean Development Climate Action Reserve

Landfill Gas Capture CCX Mechanism (CDM) CAR

Linking to other programs ISO for baseline calculations

None CDM, ISO calibration standards, IPCC technical values

Landfill must be NSPS exempt

Yes, but will accept credits from before NSPS controls are operational

Not explicitly stated but requires project to be above regulatory

Yes

Applicable uses of captured

• Flaring• Electricity generation

• Flaring• Electricity and thermal energy production• Pipelined

• Flaring • Electricity and thermal energy production• Pipelined

LFG Capture – Technical Comparison• Varied level of detail: Some included gas

utilization effects (e.g. CCX, CDM, etc.) while others did not (CAR, RGGI)

• Monitoring: LFG flow rate continuous measurement required by 5 protocols, others do not

• Baseline and other calculations: 6 protocols consider GWP of CH4 21 tons CO2e, two protocols 23 tons CO2e

LFG Capture – Applicability to Florida

• Governor’s energy and climate change action plan: Ranked 8th of 28 recommended projects based on cumulative reduction of GHG• Quantification of existing sites in Florida• As many as 90 other

landfills which do not require air permits and may be eligible for LFG capture offset projects

• Currently 8 LFG projects listed or registered with CAR in FL

Map from CAR: http://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/projects/

Map from CAR: http://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/projects/

L: Landfill gas captureL: Livestock gas captureF: ForestryO: Organic waste digestionO: Ozone depleting substancesC: Coal mine methaneN: Nitric acid

Listed and Registered Offset Projects with CAR

LFG Capture – Applicability to Florida• Inventory of potentially eligible landfills

in Florida illustrates that there may be some applicability of this offset project type in Florida

• Simpler, less detailed requirements could be easier to comply with but may be inconsistent

• Complex ones more accountable• Varying levels of complexity and

requirements may be more suitable for Florida

More Information• Kelly Stevens

Kelly.Stevens@dep.state.fl.us(850) 921 – 9550

• Electric Utility GHG Reduction page http://www.dep.state.fl.us/air/rules/ghg/electric.htm