Companies, Landowners Partner to Create Carbon Offsets from Forest
CE2 Carbon Capital, one of the largest investors and owners of U.S. carbon commodities and carbon emissions reduction projects has partnered with Dogwood Carbon Solutions, a developer of agriculture and forestry based conservation projects based in Columbia, Mo., to develop high-quality carbon offsets from over 300,000 acres of privately-owned non-industrial forest in the Ozark mountain region of Missouri and Arkansas.
One of the first programs of its kind, The Red Fern Project is tailored to help private landowners monetize their forest attributes to create new revenues, by implementing sustainable forestry management practices without requiring up-front investment. CE2 Carbon Capital will fund the rollout of the program and provide forestry management support for landowners. The high-quality offsets generated from Red Fern are expected to be sold over time to companies that purchase carbon offsets to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions. The landowners will share in the value that can be captured through the monetization of these credits.
Milo Sjardin, director at New Energy Finance, a market research firm, said, “We are starting to see the attention shifting towards forestry as a key tool that can reduce carbon emissions in a cost-effective manner. In the U.S., forestry projects comprise nearly 50 percent of practically achievable emissions reductions amongst sectors likely to remain outside carbon trading regimes. In the light of California’s plans and a potential federal cap-and-trade program, this sector therefore creates significant opportunities for investors.”
“Although working forests have significant potential for carbon offset generation, private landowners may not possess the economies of scale or expertise required to make a project feasible,” said Greg Arnold, president of CE2 Carbon Capital.
“We are excited to offer landowners a program that provides carbon market expertise, forest management services and attractive financial incentives to assist in meeting their goals of good forest stewardship,” said Jake Davis, managing partner of Dogwood Carbon.