Maneuvering the Mosaic: Full Report - Forest Trends

42 State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2013
3. Market Infrastructure: Standards and Registries
38%
Figure 39: Market Share of Issued Offsets
by Registry, 2012
0.5% 0.3%
3% 3%
4%
52%
APX
Markit
K-VER Registry
GHG Clean Projects Registry
CDC Climat
CFI Registry
J-VER Registry
Sources: APX, Markit, J-VER, K-VER, CDC Climat, GHG
CleanProjects Registry, and the AU CFI Registry.
or 55% of all volumes that APX registries have issued
over time. Last year, APX focused signifi cant effort on
implementing new registry functionality to align ACR
and CAR registries with the California compliance
program’s Compliance Instrument Tracking System
Service.
“Registry activity is markedly higher already
in 2013, than it was toward the end of 2012,”
reports Lars Kvale, Head of Environmental Markets
at APX. “This [uptick] is related mostly to California
compliance-eligible projects.”
The Markit Environmental Registry – which services
10 carbon standards – also saw heightened activity,
issuing 25 MtCO 2 e in 2012, or 34% of all offsets ever
issued by Markit.
Following through on its stated interest in exploring
auction platforms to provide market transparency
and liquidity, Markit North America signed on as
auction administrator for California’s cap-and-trade
program in 2012. Markit also enhanced a bid-andoffer
functionality on its own registry system, not as an
execution-based platform but as a platform facilitating
introductions.
Infrastructure providers ramp up support for
jurisdictional programs
As domestic carbon programs launch, major
registries are increasingly targeting their support to
jurisdictional programs – all subnational to date. In
2012, ACR and CAR registries, both underpinned
by APX – became offi cial Offset Project Registries
20%
10%
Figure 40: Number of Registered Projects
by Project Category, 2012
3% 3%
22%
42%
Renewables
Forestry and land use
Methane
Energy efficiency and fuel switch
Other
Gas
Sources: ACR, CAR, CarbonFix, CCB, CCX, CFI, The Gold
Standard, J-VER, K-VER, Panda Standard, the Pacifi c
Carbon Trust, Plan Vivo, VER+, VCS,
and the Woodland Carbon Code.
(“OPRs”) under California’s new cap-and-trade
program and saw an uptick in new projects listed and
offsets coming online for use under state-approved
Early Action Quantifi cation Methodologies and
California’s compliance offset protocols.
In Latin America, Markit signed an MOU with Brazil’s
state of Acre to develop a registry for the state’s
voluntary Program of Incentives for Environmental
Services. Markit is the fi rst registry to establish a
program to issue and track REDD offsets at the state
level that will facilitate linkages with Acre’s partners in
Brazil. In July 2013, the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code
registry will also go live on Markit.
As other emerging markets like Ghana, Kenya,
Uganda, Chile, and Thailand consider obtaining
registry infrastructure to support emerging capacity
for project development and corresponding demand
for offsets, major registries are looking to provide
customizable options to develop jurisdictional registries
at reasonable cost.
“There needs to be fl exibility in working with states
and other governments in order to determine
the right level of automation,” says Kathy Benini,
Markit’s Managing Director and Global Head of
Environmental Products, who acknowledges the lessexpensive
alternatives like open-source software or
even using Excel to manage project lists that are
at jurisdictions’ disposal. “We offer governments a
fl exible platform and work with them on how to phase
their programs in order to have the appropriate level
of technology supporting their programs as they
evolve.”