Offset Quality Initiative News Release


New Partnership Promotes Integration of High Quality Greenhouse Gas Offsets into Climate Policy

Contact:
Alexia Kelly , Policy Analyst, The Climate Trust, (503) 238-1915 ext. 208
Tom Steinfeldt, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, (703) 516-0638

Portland, OR and Washington , D.C. - Six non-profit leaders in greenhouse gas reduction policy have announced the formation of the Offset Quality Initiative (OQI). The OQI will promote a policy agenda focused on the effective incorporation of high quality greenhouse gas offsets and other reduction mechanisms into emerging climate change policy.

"The Offset Quality Initiative brings together many of the non-governmental community's top authorities in the carbon market," said Mike Burnett , Executive Director of The Climate Trust. "Providing a forum for these leading thinkers will support policy makers as they consider the integration of greenhouse gas offsets into emerging climate change policy."

The partnership is a collaborative and consensus-based voluntary effort that brings together the collective experience, resources, and expertise of its member organizations: The Climate Trust, California Climate Action Registry, Environmental Resources Trust, Greenhouse Gas Experts Network, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and The Climate Group. The objectives of the OQI are:
• To develop and promote consensus policy positions for the optimal integration and treatment of greenhouse gas offsets in current and future state, regional and national climate change policy.
• To educate stakeholders on the opportunities and challenges presented by the integration of greenhouse gas offsets into regulatory and voluntary climate change mitigation strategies.
• To serve as a source of credible information on greenhouse gas offsets based on the diverse collective knowledge and experience of the Offset Quality Initiative members.
• To promote innovation in the greenhouse gas offset market and to provide information and guidance on best practices and policies.
"As policy makers begin to design future climate legislation it will be important to have an authoritative source of information regarding effective, high quality greenhouse gas offsets," said Janet Peace, Senior Research Fellow at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "The Pew Center is pleased to be a founding member of this important effort."

Topics the group plans to address include: key criteria of high quality greenhouse gas offsets, the interaction of voluntary and regulatory greenhouse gas reduction markets, opportunities and challenges presented by various offset project types, and recommended roles for offsets in emerging climate change policy.
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Offset Quality Initiative Members:
The Climate Trust
Greenhouse Gas Experts Network
California Climate Action Registry
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Environmental Resources Trust
The Climate Group