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Canadian Offset Projects To Be Recognized By The Voluntary Carbon Standard Association.

Article Excerpt
Article by Adam Chamberlain, National Chair, Climate Change Group , Douglas V. Tingey, Counsel and Jennifer Kirton, Summer Law Student

On July 23, 2009 the Voluntary Carbon Standard Association ("VCSA") announced it will allow carbon reduction projects hosted in Canada to issue Voluntary Carbon Units ("VCUs") without a corresponding cancellation of Assigned Amount Units ("AAUs") under the Kyoto Protocol. The decision reflects the VCSA's belief that a regulatory framework to implement the Kyoto Protocol is unlikely to emerge in Canada and, as such, Canada is unlikely to meet its reduction commitment under the Kyoto Protocol. Consequently, this decision will allow Canadian projects to qualify for the VCS, where previously the Federal Government was not in a position to provide the assurances necessary to remove worry of double counting.

Background Prior to this announcement, Canadian projects could not qualify for VCS projects as developers were not able to establish in the manner required by VCSA that they would not be double-counted in a Kyoto Protocol related program. That rationale was based on ensuring the integrity of the international Kyoto Protocol offset system in that no single project should be compensated with offsets twice. The program required assurances from the...