Environmental Consultants, Environmental Consulting Firm, Environmental Services, Inc.

Climate Action Reserve (CAR) is in the process of developing several protocols for greenhouse gas emission reduction and carbon sequestration projects for the agricultural sector. CAR develops its protocols in conjunction with experts in the field and a diverse group of stakeholders from industry, government agencies, environmental consultants, non-governmental organizations, academia and project developers.

Richard Scharf, a Licensed Soil Scientist and Senior Scientist in ESI’s Forestry, Carbon, and GHG Services Division, is honored to lend a hand by joining CAR’s Nutrient Management Project Protocol Workgroup The nutrient management protocol is intended to guide projects that involve a reduction in nitrogen fertilizer application rates on agricultural lands, along with management changes that increase nitrogen (N) use efficiency. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is emitted as soil N is processed by microoganisms.  This natural process is exacerbated by high fertilization rates with N fertilizers. Reduction of these emissions is important because N2O has about 310 times the global warming potential as CO2. From a project developer’s point of view, this means that a tonne of N2O emission reductions is equivalent to about 300 tonnes of CO2 emissions reductions.

Depending on climate, soil type and management practices, a large percentage of the N fertilizers added to crops are not taken up by the plants themselves. N can be lost to the atmosphere, leached to pollute groundwater and surface waters, and taken up by organisms other than the intended crop. Like many other GHG-reducing practices and technologies, increasing the efficiency of crop N use has multiple beneficial effects, including reducing production costs to the farmer and cleaner waterways. Changing the timing and placement of fertilizer applications, as well as changing crop rotations, using slow-release fertilizers and using soil additives that slow some biological activities, can increase N use efficiency.

Much of the protocol is under development, but changes in N2O emissions will use the recent fertilizer use history of a farm as a baseline (provided fertilizer use is in line with that of other farms in the region), and generate emissions estimates using the DeNitrification-DeComposition model (see: http://www.dndc.sr.unh.edu/).

ESI is grateful for the opportunity for hands-on involvement in the shaping of this protocol, and for the potential benefits a strong knowledge of the protocol’s requirements may offer our clients.

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Environmental Services, Inc. (ESI) provided an independent study to the GreenBar Collective entitled ESTIMATION OF CARBON SEQUESTRATION POTENTIAL FROM TREE PLANTING EFFORTS.  This study took into account the company's groundbreaking post-production practice of planting a tree for every bottle of TRU Organic Spirits sold.

The combined results of ESI’s study and GreenBar’s independent GHG inventory are unprecedented, and show that the GreenBar Collective's product TRU Organic Spirits is 760 TIMES CARBON NEGATIVE. TRU Organic Cocktails plants its trees through Sustainable Harvest International, a Maine-based non profit and TRU has planted over 50,000 trees. A single TRU Organic Cocktail will more than negate an American's average carbon footprint for a day. Currently, you can find TRU Organic Spirits at Wyndham Hotels.

Click here to view the Wyndham Cocktail Menu, where ESI is highlighted>>>

Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) Approves Fourth New Methodology for Crediting Projects that Reduce Deforestation (REDD).

Click here to read the press release.

The VCS is the most widely used carbon accounting standard among projects issuing credits in the voluntary market. Founded in 2005 by the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, VCS has pioneered trusted and innovative tools for generating quality GHG credits.

Through our ANSI accreditation, ESI is authorized to conduct third-party GHG project validations/verifications for seven GHG programs, which establish ESI as a leader in the environmental field. These GHG programs include: Climate Action Registry (CAR), CarbonFix (CFS), American Carbon Registry (ACR), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), and Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT).

Click here to read more about ESI's Carbon services.