GHG & Co-Benefits in Watershed Carbon v1.0
Ecosystem Focus: Wetlands
Overview
Credit Class: GHG & Co-Benefits in Watershed Carbon v1.0
Developer: Virridy
Abstract:
This Credit Class can be used by Project Proponents to generate carbon credits by reducing nonpoint source contamination of watersheds, thereby avoiding the increased greenhouse gas emissions from the status-quo infrastructure construction and electricity use associated with industrial drinking water and wastewater management and treatment.
Under this Credit Class, the anticipated carbon revenues provide the additional required incentive to motivate greater installation of nature-based solutions, reducing both performance and regulatory risk, and being credited upon demonstration of implementation success and subsequent avoidance of gray infrastructure construction requirements.
Carbon Emissions Avoided: Avoided future CO2e emissions calculated by quantifying the multi-year energy and material use from:
reducing the use of existing infrastructure,
eliminating the need for new infrastructure, and/or
eliminating the need for upgrades or retrofits.
For energy this would be the corresponding energy savings multiplied by the average grams or tons CO2e that exists and is projected to exist in the regional electricity grid for the life of the projected upgrade. For materials this would be the material-specific life cycle inventory data for CO2e emissions.
Final Version - Published January 18, 2024
Additional supporting documents and articles by the authors of this credit class:
Research Square Pre-print Article: Greening America's Rivers: The Potential of Climate Financing for Nature-Based Water Quality Improvement. Evan Thomas, Braden Limb, Jason Quinn, Alex Johnson, Rob Sowby, Zia Mehrabi. December 8, 2023.
Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resliience. University of Colorado Boulder. Decarbonizing Water: State Trends and Opportunities to Apply the Voluntary Carbon Market Toward Global Water Security. Evan Thomas PhD, Christina Barstow PhD, Laura MacDonald PhD, John, Ecklum Katie Frankhauser, Alex Johnson
Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience University of Colorado Boulder. Greening America’s Rivers: The Potential of Climate Financing for Nature-Based Water Quality Improvement. Braden Limb, Jason Quinn, Alex Johnson, Robert B. Sowby, Zia Mehrabi, Evan Thomas. August 10, 2023.
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