Resilient LLP’s Post

🚨 New Resilient LLP Bulletin Alert! 🚨 𝗨𝗦𝗗𝗔 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗛𝗚 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱-𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 🇺🇸 The USDA has announced its intent to establish an Advisory Council for the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program, authorized under the Growing Climate Solutions Act. 🌳 The Council will support the USDA and the program to facilitate the participation of farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners, including beginning, socially disadvantaged, limited resource, and veteran farmers, in voluntary environmental credit markets. The Council will also support the Biden-Harris Administration’s "Principles for Responsible Participation in Voluntary Carbon Markets". 💡 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. The Council will review and recommend changes to: • the list of protocols for generating environmental credits; • required qualifications for entities providing technical assistance; and • activities for which technical assistance providers and third-party verifiers may register to provide services under the Program that prevent, reduce, or mitigate GHGs. 📅 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀. Comments and nominations must be submitted by October 15, 2024. 🔍 For more details, read the bulletin here: https://lnkd.in/g5yH9yCQ #Sustainability #ClimateSolutions #USDA #CarbonMarkets #GHG #Agriculture #EnvironmentalStewardship #VeteranFarmers

👏 Thrilled to see Nathan Truitt of the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and Ann Bartuska of Resources for the Future and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) appointed to the USDA's Growing Climate Solutions Act Advisory Council! This council aims to support the participation of farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in voluntary environmental credit markets. The council's key activities include: 🌱Reviewing and recommending changes to protocols for generating environmental credits. 🌱Setting qualifications for technical assistance providers. 🌱Advising on activities to prevent, reduce, or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. 🌱Advising the Secretary of Agriculture on methods to quantify and verify greenhouse gas emissions reductions and ways to reduce barriers to entry and transaction costs in these markets. Both AFF and EDF are U.S. Nature4Climate members. We're proud to be represented in this new council! Read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/e69DAHYA #NaturalClimateSolutions #CarbonMarkets #ClimateAction

New Publication out: Greenhouse gas mitigation on croplands: clarifying the debate on knowns, unknowns and risks to move forward with effective management interventions. This paper explains four major areas of uncertainty: (1) the expected changes in soil carbon or GHG emissions resulting from agricultural management practice changes; (2) the extent to which social, environmental and economic factors constrain mitigation potential; (3) the ability to execute reliable measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) frameworks; and (4) the perception of risk associated with different ways of promoting practice adoption. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gRcYmHb8

This morning USDA announced a Request for Information to Support Next Steps in Implementing the Growing Climate Solutions Act. Through this RFI USDA is seeking public input on establishing the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program (the Program). The purpose of the Program is to facilitate farmer, rancher, and private forest landowner participation in voluntary carbon markets. The feedback requested includes input related to the criteria used to evaluate protocols and the identification of specific protocols that should be considered for inclusion in the Program. Specifically, USDA is seeking input on: 1. Options for interpreting and applying criteria used to evaluate protocols that are designed to ensure consistency, reliability, effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency. 2. Information pertaining to specific protocols to be evaluated for inclusion in the program. 3. Qualifications needed by covered entities who provide technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, or private forest landowners. 4. Qualifications needed by covered entities who serve as third party verifiers of processes described in protocols for voluntary environmental credit markets. More information is available in their press release at https://lnkd.in/gv2kCDWA

🚨 In April 2024, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was simplified, resulting in the removal of crucial environmental measures, like those protecting valuable grasslands and requiring space to be set aside for nature. Just a few months later, today, #AGRIFISH Ministers are discussing and pushing for even more simplifications, particularly regarding GAEC 2 – the standard that protects vital wetlands and peatlands. This is short-sighted and unacceptable. Why? ♦️Environmental safeguards are not a burden, they are essential! Wetlands and peatlands are the backbone of resilient agriculture and climate adaptation. They protect against devastating floods, reduce soil and water pollution, and help achieve climate neutrality goals. Weakening GAEC 2 would harm these vital ecosystems, undermining efforts to combat natural disasters. ♦️CAP Reforms must be based on evidence and be predictable. The recent 2024 #CAP reform was rushed through without proper consultation or impact assessment, which is neither acceptable nor in the interest of farmers. Farmers have consistently called for stability and predictability in CAP rules. Reopening the CAP framework just a year after this hasty reform would create unnecessary uncertainty and go against the principles of good policy-making. Instead, efforts should focus on effectively implementing the current framework and providing farmers with the necessary support to meet the requirements. ♦️Simplifications shouldn't undermine the CAP’s green architecture or the accountability of CAP spending. The CAP represents nearly a third of the EU’s budget, and it is essential that its financial delivery remains transparent and effective. There is undoubtedly room to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens, including at the Member State level, by harmonizing reporting processes, clarifying rules for implementation, and enhancing digital tools. But this must not come at the cost of removing or weakening fundamental environmental protections and shouldn’t undermine the CAP's financial accountability and delivery. Weakening rules like GAEC 2 erodes the CAP's green architecture and directly contradicts our long-term sustainability goals. We call on Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen resist further weakening of the CAP’s environmental rules and support Member States in ensuring that the CAP meets its environmental obligations. #NoNatureNoFood picture by Menno Schaefer

The MethaneSAT satellite, developed by the Environmental Defense Fund, aims to track methane emissions globally from oil and gas production sites. The data will be made public, allowing oil and gas companies or environmental regulators to find and fix leaks faster. More challenging is tackling emissions from landfills or from agriculture, specifically livestock. A concerted effort to rein in methane from fossil fuels, agriculture and landfills could reduce methane emissions by up to 57 percent by 2030. MethaneSAT aims to help bring about that change and take a critical step towards environmental sustainability. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eAZuvhDd

Yesterday, EDS's COO Shay Schlaepfer and Policy Director Raewyn Peart presented at the Primary Production Committee on the Resource Management (Extended Duration of Coastal Permits for Marine Farms) Amendment Bill. Marine farming can be a sustainable industry if located in the right place and at the right density. However, poorly located and managed farms can have significant adverse environmental impacts that take many years to reverse. The government has introduced a Bill that would extend all current marine farm consents by 20 years without any environmental assessment. The Bill is being rushed through the Committee without adequate analysis or information and there is insufficient time for effective public scrutiny and participation. EDS strongly opposes the Bill – it is unnecessary, disregards known environmental risks, undermines local authority decision-making and excludes the general public from having a say. You can watch Shay and Raewyn's presentation or read our written submissions at the links below: EDS presentation (from timestamp ~2.21:38): https://lnkd.in/geuQpSBx EDS written submissions: https://lnkd.in/gra44uHn

The Office for Environmental Protection annual assessment report was published last week, detailing progress towards the Environmental Improvement Plan in 2023/4. The evidence, where it is available, shows that progress is only partial, or off track. Less progress has been made overall compared to the previous 12 months. 📉 The OEP concluded that their assessment had been hampered by a lack of evidence and gaps in monitoring systems. 🔎 The underpinning evidence that was available is outlined at the bottom of the article here: https://lnkd.in/eFcHgvHc I will be interested to read the details when all the reports are published. It was great to have a summary of the farmland bird report by Alice Groom and a link to the full report here: https://lnkd.in/ej254j2W 🪶🐦⬛🪺 The first of the key recommendations given by the OEP was "Get nature-friendly farming right with greater government engagement with farmers and landowners being key to improving the environment at scale". 🐄🐓🫛 The research being done by the rural and agricultural team at LUC will help to provide evidence and learning towards these key outcomes. Further research, good advice to farmers and effective agri-environment options will be key to seeing the progress necessary against the EIP goals. I'm excited to lead this important work area. 🪶🕷️🌱🍱👩🌾 https://lnkd.in/e8uTKWY9   #research #agri-environment #environmental #targets #progress #team

https://lnkd.in/gaNEBmYY With Australia ramping up its climate efforts, it’s important to understand Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Our latest article breaks down what ACCUs are, the legal landscape surrounding them, and the risks and compliance challenges involved. Whether you're a farmer, a business owner, a professional involved in the space or just curious about carbon farming, this article offers clear insights into what you need to know. If you have any questions or need legal advice on the topic, do not hesitate to reach out! See link below:

In the 15+ years I have been developing #carbon projects, the conversation around #offsets has become increasingly fraught. I do sense some agreement that there should be incentives to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gases, but skepticism about how quality can be ensured when documenting and guaranteeing a reduction or removal has actually occurred. In agriculture, this conversation is informed both by how to assure the buyer of a credit is purchasing something real, but also how farmers and landowners can be assured that a program rewarding them for climate impact is legitimate, equitable, and worth their time. These norms of fairness are determined not just by how well a carbon registry writes its rules, but also what kind of results projects achieve when a methodology is put to the test in a live project. USDA finds itself at a unique vantage point to convene this complicated conversation, of how to evaluate whether particular carbon market opportunities are worthwhile for farmers, whether they produce reliable impact, and whether the constellation of technical assistance providers and verifiers adequately serve projects. I encourage folks to chime in to the open RFI to help tackle these thorny questions, elevate what makes some opportunities high quality, and help define the criteria we should use to evaluate these complicated market mechanisms. My hope is as a result of this process, we can at a market and institutional level begin to trust what works well, spend less time worrying about the edge cases or flagrantly bad actors, and begin to invest resources in effective work on the ground that also strengthens our agricultural communities. Make your voice heard here: https://lnkd.in/gqiED-Fr Robert Parkhurst Rebecca Wright Laura Gallagher Carbon Yield