REPORTS

Response to the Ontario Cap and Trade White Paper, July 27, 2009

This submission to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment was developed in response to their Discussion Paper "Moving Forward: A Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade System in Ontario". IPOG submitted a response to the questions provided in the Discussion Paper, with a specific focus on how a successful and robust offset system could be implemented.

Response to the Ontario Cap and Trade White Paper

Response to Environment Canada's Program Rules and Guidance for Project Proponents and Program Rules for Verification and Guidance for Verification Bodies, August 12, 2009

This submission to Environment Canada was written in response to Canada's Offset System for Greenhouse Gases: "Program Rules and Guidance for Verification Bodies" (Discussion Guides) released in Part I of the Canada Gazette on June 13, 2009. The submission includes comments on aspects of the offset system as is currently contemplated in the two Discussion Guides and also provides additional thoughts on how a more robust and accessible offset system could be implemented.

Response to Environment Canada's Program Rules and Guidance for Project Proponents and Program Rules for Verification and Guidance for Verification Bodies

Response to the WCI Offset Definition and Eligibility Criteria White Paper, August 21, 2009

This submission to the Western Climate Initiative was provided in response to their White Paper on Offset Definition and Eligibility Criteria. The submission includes some general comments, and in addition addresses the specific sections of the white paper which speak to assurance that emission reductions are real, additional, permanent and verifiable.

Response to the WCI Offset Definition and Eligibility Criteria White Paper

Submission to the British Columbia Ministry of Environment on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target Act, August 22, 2008

This submission to the BC Ministry of Environment on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target Act (GGRTA) outlines the core offset design principles and the eligibility criteria that IPOG sees as essential to guide the development, implementation and delivery of an offset system.

Submission to the British Columbia Ministry of Environment on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target Act

Submission to the Offsets Sub-Committee Western Climate Initiative, June 6, 2008

IPOG outlines the core offset design principles and key offset design elements and governance considerations it sees as essential for the Western Climate Initiative. Key considerations discussed include:

new protocols & adapting/adopting existing protocols, system efficiency & transparency, environmental incrementality, jurisdictional flexibility, validation & verification, bio-sequestration projects & liability periods, transaction costs, and harmonizing & linkages.

Submission to the Offsets Sub-Committee Western Climate Initiative

BioSequestration in Canada’s Offset System - Assuring Permanence, June 9, 2008, Karen Haugen-Kozyra and Don McCabe

This report outlines the reasons why the current proposed approach to assuring permanence is problematic and recommends a package of policies to find workable solutions that are designed with Canada’s best interests in mind.

BioSequestration in Canada’s Offset System - Assuring Permanence

Registry & Market Working Group Considerations And Recommendations For A Canadian Carbon Market And Offset Credit System - Report To Environment Canada, December 7, 2007

This report serves two purposes:

1. To discuss the essential elements for the regulatory framework to foster efficient carbon markets and exchanges.
2. To highlight the growing concerns of market participants regarding the likely lack of liquidity in the early stages of the compliance market (and offer some potential solutions).

It is with these concerns in mind that IPOG puts forward some suggested mechanisms for consideration that could increase the availability of tradable credits in the early stages of the compliance regime.

Registry & Market Working Group - Considerations And Recommendations For A Canadian Carbon Market And Offset Credit System

IPOG Working Group On Offset Rules & Eligibility Criteria - Report To Environment Canada, October 15, 2007

Prepared by members of IPOG’s Working Group on Offset Rules & Eligibility Criteria, this report acts as a high-level checklist on key offset system rules and eligibility criteria, in order to help Environment Canada design an effective and fully-functional domestic offset system. As outlined in the Working Group’s terms of reference, submitted to Environment Canada in September 2007, our main task is to develop a “technical document on options/analysis discussing criteria to establish what should be included in Canada’s offset system”1. From here, the group chose to explore four overarching issues related to system rules and design:

1. Environmental Integrity;
2. Definition of Eligible Sectors;
3. Identification of Business as Usual (BAU) and Baselines; and
4. Transaction Costs.

IPOG Working Group On Offset Rules & Eligibility Criteria

IPOG Cross-Cutting White Paper, July 31, 2007

The following report was prepared for the federal government cross cutting consultations on the Clean Air Regulatory Framework. It contains a discussion of needed elements for a national offset system, as seen by IPOG members. Also attached in the appendices is a suggested timeline and activity chart for needed actions towards a July 1, 2008 launch to the national offset system.

July 31, 2007 Submission

IPOG February 2007 Report – High Level Offset System Design

This report presents IPOG’s recommendations on the principles that should guide a domestic offsets system. This includes looking at desirable traits of an offset system, such as linking to other systems and encouraging a broad spectrum of emission reduction/removal activities. It also looks at how the system can provide a balanced approach to competing objectives of those involved/affected by an offsets system.

Finally, the report provides input on what steps offset suppliers must take to create a compliance unit. Because of the central role quantification plays in an offset system, IPOG has developed a checklist for assessing existing protocols that should be used in the start-up stage of a Canadian offsets system. A separate appendix, to be included shortly, will discuss the role and function of a registry and the marketplace.

This document is not a policy position paper; nor is it a recommendation for a “rules re-write.” Rather, it is a reflection of common needs and expectations of a domestic offset system. Its intent is to encourage further policy development in areas that still require discussion between engaged stakeholders and the federal government.

IPOG February 2007 Report – High Level Offset System Design

Provincial – Industry Offset System Working Group , Workshop Report, July, 2006

This is the report from IPOG’s inception workshop where the technical elements of a Canadian domestic offset system were discussed. Over-arching aspects were agreed upon by all members to be essential to the early success of a domestic emissions trading system in Canada: