UNDERSTANDING EVOLVING CARBON MARKETS: HOW AGRICULTURE ‘FITS’ Debbie Reed Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (C-AGG) June 17, 2010 Washington, DC Agriculture & Carbon Markets: Making Carbon Count

Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (C-AGG)  Multi-stakeholder initiative  Seeks to advance agricultural GHG mitigation solutions to benefit society, ag sector  Policy approaches to integrate GHG emissions abatement for ag with food/feed/fiber/fuel production and natural resource management  Incentive-based, market-based approaches that meet market demands, farming realities  Tap innovation, ingenuity

Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (C-AGG) C-AGG Report release April, 2010 (V.1): Carbon and Agriculture: Getting Measurable Results

Agriculture’s Fit in C Markets Key sector for political and technical path to successful C mitigation programs  Challenges:  Complexity of managed biological ecosystems  Managing C and N cycles to retain nutrients  MRV: balancing certainty, costs  “Farming First”: Policies must balance market, environmental assurances with ease of use, access: “farmer-friendly interface”

Agriculture’s Fit in C Markets Key issues C-AGG has identified relative to agricultural participation in C markets:  Incentivizing and rewarding performance (science- based)  MRV: balancing certainty, costs Ongoing data needs, R&D  Permanence: durability, liability, fungibility Managing risks of losses, reversals  Of course: baselines, additionality, leakage, metrics for measurement

Ag’s Access to C Markets Key Issues to be Addressed: Match Climate Needs to Agricultural Realities, Needs  Policy Approaches: Certainty  Demand/need – no false promises  Economics/value – opportunities outweigh costs  Protocol development, road-tests  Access, aggregation  Opportunities across sector  USDA institutional framework, development

C-AGG: future activities  Case studies: make issues “hang”  Pilot projects – public/private cooperation?  Intensity-based metrics, approaches  Scenarios for the future:  Caps?  Voluntary Program  Programmatic Approaches  Other?

C-AGG: future activities  USDA, EPA, leg branch dialogue  white papers  scale, cost, risk  Outreach/communication  Joint C-AGG, T-AGG, M-AGG fall meeting