Review of Forestry Carbon Standards (2009)

"This report is the thesis of Master of Science student Paulo Lopes in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, released in September 2009. The author's aim is to provide a tool for voluntary carbon credit buyers to identify the most appropriate forestry carbon credit for their purposes. The report adds to a useful body of work now available comparing and analysing the sometimes confusing array of third-party standards that have emerged to deliver credibility to the forest carbon market over the past few years. The review considers ten different carbon standards and assesses seven in detail. The standards are compared on several criteria such as: geography, additionality, permanence, leakage, transparency, non-carbon benefits. The seven standards analysed in detail are: Voluntary Carbon Standard, CarbonFix, Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard, Plan Vivo, California Climate Action Registry, Chicaco Climate Exchange and American Carbon Registry." Ian Hamilton, Editor at Carbon Positive, October 2009