Development Assistance
There is no shortage of companies attempting to develop tribal carbon projects, but not all of the information these organizations are providing to tribal decision-makers is accurate. Unfortunately, many companies are making unrealistic claims about how many carbon credits can be developed on a particular piece of land and how much tribal nations can earn. This has led to failed projects and general distrust of the industry.
The National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC) is not a project developer. NICC’s role is to be an independent, trusted resource that tribal nations can rely on when exploring the possibilities of doing a carbon project on their land. NICC looks out for tribal interests and provides realistic projections and scientific data to help with the decision-making process.
Carbon inventory
Process used to determine what type of carbon sequestration is possible on the land and establish the capacity of the land to assimilate carbon as well as the economic viability of a potential project.
Development Process
The first step in carbon project development is to assess the project methods and prepare documentation that will be used to evaluate whether it qualifies as a carbon sequestration or emission reduction activity within a particular greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction program or standard. The project design document details emissions quantification methodologies and provides a scoping document of the costs and benefits of a proposed project including:
- Project feasibility assessment
- Project listing
- Inventory design & installation
- Project and baseline scenario modeling
- Initial carbon credit and offset project data report
- Third-party verification & registry review
- Credit/offset issuance
- Annual credit/offset project data report
- Periodic third-party verification and credit/offset issuance
Opportunities for carbon sequestration are found on:
• Forestlands
• Grasslands
• Wetlands
• Croplands
Estimate cost & return
If initial estimates show that a project is likely to create carbon credits, developers can then calculate the project’s cost and financial return. Developers may also use the project design document to compare multiple project scenarios. Once the project design document is complete, it is submitted to a third-party certification program for verification. Upon verification by a certification program, credits are issued and reported.