CaliforniaCarbon.info, 3 January 2014: No new early action projects were approved by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) in December 2013. Thus, the number of projects approved at the end of 2013 remained at 74. These include 72 projects initially registered with the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) and two projects registered with the American Carbon Registry (ACR). In November 2013, the board had approved four early action projects.

A total 17 early action projects have also gone on to be issued early action offsets, which can be used as ARB Offset Credits for compliance under the cap-and-trade scheme. The total number of early action offsets issued by the board till the end of 2013 stands at just under 3.75 million. Additionally, the board has also issued over 0.5 million offsets to four compliance projects.

The board has recognised four early action protocols, but has so far approved projects under only three – US Forest Protocol (19), Livestock (27), and Ozone Depleting Substances (28). Urban forestry is the fourth and final recognised offset protocol.

While no projects were approved by the board in December, the California offsets market can by no means be termed as having ‘cooled off.’ In the last quarter of 2013, two major deals for the transaction of offsets were announced. Finite Carbon, which operates forestry projects, announced that its client would sell offsets worth about $2 million to two entities. ClimeCo Corporation subsequently announced that it has signed an agreement with one of the largest compliance entities in California, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), to provide offset credits.

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