SOIL CARBON AND CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS
From
Consortium for Agricultural
Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (CASMGS)
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ctec
Charles W. Rice, K-State Soil
Microbiology, National CASMGS Coordinator (785) 532-7217 cwrice@ksu.edu
Kent McMay, K-State Soil and
Water Conservation Specialist (785) 532-5776 kmcvay@ksu.edu
Steve L. Watson, CASMGS
Communications (785) 532-7105 swatson@oznet.ksu.edu
No. 20
This week's issue:
* K-State To Host
National:
* Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Involves Legal Issues
International:
* European Union To Link Emissions Trading To Rest Of World
**********
K-STATE
To HosT
Field
Hearing on Carbon Sequestration
The most recent developments in soil carbon sequestration as
a potential solution to global warming will be presented at a U.S. Senate
subcommittee field hearing in
Chuck Rice, K-State professor of agronomy, will be one of
several experts to testify at the field hearing, which will be held at the
Soil carbon sequestration is emerging as part of a national solution to global warming through carbon credit offset trading, Rice says.
“We are getting closer to the day when agricultural producers may be able to get paid for carbon credits through the marketplace for practices such as no-till and grass plantings. The speakers at this conference and field hearing will discuss the current status of these carbon credit trading programs and how carbon sequestration fits in with current government policies on climate change,” he says.
Others who will testify include James R. Mahoney, director of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere; William Hohenstein, USDA Director of Global Change Program Exchange; Melissa Carey, climate policy specialist with Environmental Defense; Michael Walsh, senior vice president of Chicago Climate Exchange; Ted Hartsig, senior project manager with SES, Inc. in Lenexa, Kansas; and Peggy Blackman, with the Kansas Coalition for Carbon Management.
Prior to the field hearing, a technical conference on carbon
sequestration will be held at the
At the technical conference, Melissa Carey will speak about the opportunities for agricultural producers to benefit from carbon sequestration programs. Also, Joel Brown, with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, will speak about how carbon can be accounted for in agricultural soils. James R. Mahoney may also speak at the technical conference on the U.S. Climate Science Plan, time permitting.
For more information, contact Terry Jo Litchfield,
Committee Updates
Pilot Project Update
Other
Dr.
Chuck Rice, KSU
-- Steve Watson swatson@oznet.ksu.edu
**********
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS TRADING
INVOLVES LEGAL ISSUES
In a sign that the business of greenhouse gas emissions trading is close to becoming a significant factor in business and government activities, the American Bar Association has formed a Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. The legal issues involved in greenhouse gas emissions trading are becoming important.
The Committee will be following a range of developments now underway:
At the international level, the Kyoto Protocol is projected
to enter into force in 2003, if
The Bush Administration is taking steps to implement the President's voluntary climate change program, including the development of a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program and "business challenges" for particular sectors. The establishment of a voluntary reporting program raises complex legal issues.
States are becoming very active on the climate issue.
Increasingly,
For more information, see:
http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/climatechange/
**********
European
to
rest of world
The European Union (EU) aims to link its greenhouse gas emissions trading system to the rest of the world so EU firms can buy pollution permits from other countries, its environment policy head said recently.
But countries like
EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom will produce draft legislation in the coming weeks to set out rules on how EU companies could, for example, exceed their own pollution limits by "buying" reductions made by firms outside the bloc.
The proposal will limit the amount of "imported" emissions reductions that EU firms can buy to help meet pollution targets.
The EU trading scheme will set a cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial plants from 2005. It will allow firms to buy and sell emissions rights within the EU and could create a brand new market place worth 7 billion euros (U.S. $8 billion) by 2007, according to Norway-based analysts Point Carbon.
Many environmentalists fear that allowing EU countries to buy their emissions reductions, required under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change, would let them off the need to cut pollution from their own energy, industry and transport sectors.
They also fear that countries outside the EU could sell bogus credits or that they might sell reductions in greenhouse gases achieved by using nuclear power rather than fossil fuels.
But
The 1997 treaty has not yet come into force and can not do
so until
-- Reuters News Service,
**********
MEETINGS OF INTEREST
Note: All dates are 2003 unless
otherwise noted.
June 6
The
K-State campus,
For more
information, contact Terry Jo Litchfield (785) 532-7217, terryjo@ksu.edu
October 16-17
CASMGS Carbon
Measuring and Management Forum
For more
information, contact Scott Staggenborg at (785) 532-5833
Send comments or items for the
newsletter to Steve Watson at:
<swatson@oznet.ksu.edu>
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