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

On August 31, 2011, the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) GHG Validation/Verification Accreditation Committee (GVAC) voted to award Environmental Services, Inc. (ESI) an accreditation scope extension which included the verification of assertions related to GHG emissions and removals at the organizational level for Sector Groups 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The new scopes allow ESI to perform organizational level verification for GHG programs such as the British Columbia Reg. 272/2009 and The Climate Registry.

The accreditation scope extension adds to ESI’s already existing accreditation under ISO 14065:2007 for GHG Validation and Verification Bodies, including ISO 14065:2007, ISO 14064-3:2006 and the following activities and sector groups:

Verification of assertions related to GHG emissions and removals at the organizational level
1 – General
2 – Manufacturing
3 – Power Generation
5 – Mining and Mineral Production
6 – Metals Production
7 – Chemical Production
8 – Oil and gas extraction, production and refining including petrochemicals
9 – Waste

Verification of assertions related to GHG emission reductions and removals at the project level
3 – Land Use and Forestry

Validation of assertions related to GHG emission reductions and removals at the project level
3 – Land Use and Forestry

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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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ESI is now listed on the approved validation/verification body list for Scope 3 (Land Use and Forestry) maintained by the Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT).  ESI’s accreditation through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under ISO 14065 for Greenhouse Gas Validation and Verification Bodies meets the requirements for validation/verification bodies under British Columbia’s Emission Offsets Regulations (EOR).

Back in 2007, the British Columbia government approved legislation that mandated all government and public sector operations, including schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, health authorities and Crown corporations become carbon neutral by the end of 2010.  Based on British Columbia’s  Carbon Neutral Update 2009 -“ British Columbians’ energy and commitment to become carbon neutral at all levels of the public sector for 2010 is a demonstration of leadership and part of the solution to reaching our ambitious province-wide targets:

• a six percent reduction in carbon emissions (from 2007 levels) in 2012
• 18 percent reduction by 2016
• 33 percent reduction by 2020
• 80 percent reduction in 2050

The Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT) (Crown Corporation) estimates that this commitment will impact approximately 300,000 public sector staff and 1.6 million students and by 2011 expects to deliver p to one million tonnes of carbon offsets to its public sector and corporate clients.

For more information about ESI's Carbon and GHG Services, click here.