| Oregon's response to climate change |
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| Introduction |
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There is growing concern that greenhouse gas emissions associated with human activities are affecting the world's climate. A variety of efforts are underway internationally to address greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to anticipated climate change.
Oregon has joined the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a coalition of governments on the west coast working to inventory and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help stakeholders adapt to climate change. WCI covers an area from western Canada across the western U.S. and into Mexico.
The Oregon Global Warming Commission is working to develop policy recommendations to address climate change in future legislatures and administrations. Jim Rue, a former Board of Agriculture member, serves on the commission, and Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba is a non-voting member of the commission. Department staff is also assisting with the commission's Natural Resources Committee.
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| Mandatory emissions reporting |
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The Western Climate Initiative developed draft guidelines for its member governments to use when developing requirements to report greenhouse gas emissions. Members, including Oregon, are already moving forward to adopt reporting standards. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently released a proposed rule for mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases by certain stationary, high output emitters.
Generally, the rule focuses on Title V Air Quality Operating Permit holders and certain Air Contaminant Discharge Permit holders, as well as electrical generating units of certain sizes, solid waste disposal facilities, and others with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
Most agricultural operations will not be required to report, but the proposed rules will affect some agricultural processors, including animal rendering facilities, beet sugar manufacturing facilities, grain elevators and animal feed manufacturers that have over 10,000 tons/year throughput, and grain/flour mills and potato chip/snack facilities that have any of the above permits.
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| Emissions cap and trade program |
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Businesses and other entities in the WCI areas that are required to report will eventually be assigned "caps," or allowances to emit certain levels of greenhouse gases. Over time, these allowed levels will gradually be reduced. Emitters may either choose to reduce their own emissions by installing reduction technologies, or they may purchase carbon credits from others who have reduced their emissions or are sequestering carbon.
Like the reporting requirements, the cap and trade program most likely won't regulate agriculture because of the diversity, complexity, and limited data about the industry, along with the fact that in sum, the industry is credited with only about 7% of greenhouse gas emissions (estimates vary).
However, it's important for agriculture to be involved in discussions about Oregon's response to climate change. There is great potential for agricultural producers to sell carbon credits through the cap-and-trade system for practices such as conservation tillage, nutrient management, and streamside vegetation establishment.
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| Agricultural carbon credits |
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Under the cap-and-trade program, agricultural operations may be eligible to sell carbon credits for a variety of practices, including the following.
- Reducing energy use. Agricultural operations use energy for tillage, heating, cooling, transportation, supplying crop nutrients, and other uses. Savings in carbon/energy use can be packaged, offered as credits, and sold in a carbon market.
- Carbon sequestration in the soil, plants, and plant roots through conservation tillage, perennial crops, and other practices.
- Management of fertilizer applications to reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
- Manure management to reduce methane emissions.
- Streamside vegetation establishment. Many growers are establishing permanent vegetation along streams to protect water quality, and are also sequestering carbon through this practice.
There are several existing programs that allow farmers and ranchers to sell carbon credits. The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is one of the better-known programs. Growers may sell credits on the CCX as Offset Providers or Offset Aggregators. An Offset Provider is an owner of an offset project that registers and sells offsets directly on the CCX. An Offset Aggregator is an entity that serves as the administrative representative for multiple offset-generating projects on behalf of multiple project owners. Several offset aggregators assist farmers and ranchers in Oregon. The Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association has also sold carbon sequestration credits for direct seed growers.
New carbon trading programs will likely be developed as part of the Western Climate Initiative and Oregon's strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It's important for agricultural producers to provide feedback on program design, and consider questions such as the following.
- Should carbon trading programs only be available to those who put projects in place from a certain period forward, or should we reward progressive growers who have adopted practices in the past?
- How will the WCI/Oregon trading system link with other systems, such as the Chicago Climate Exchange, where some growers are already enrolled in carbon credit programs?
- Should carbon credit programs give a preference/priority to sequestration/emission reduction projects in Oregon? Should the program require Oregon projects to be a certain percent of the trade, or should the projects be allowed anywhere in the WCI area or in the world?
- Should the state or WCI establish a list of certain types of projects that would be eligible for offset programs, or should agriculture and other potential sectors be able to develop/propose projects for consideration as long as they can demonstrate and verify the amount of carbon emissions reduced or sequestered?
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