
The Yale Forest Forum is excited to announce the next speaker series for the fall 2022 semester, taking place on Thursdays, jointly hosted by the Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program and The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment.
What Makes a High Quality Forest Carbon Credit?
Forests store vast amounts of carbon in vegetation and soils, and humans may be able to protect, manage, and restore forested ecosystems to protect existing carbon and also stimulate faster and greater uptake of atmospheric CO2. Carbon markets are responding to this potential: to date, carbon credits from forests are by far the largest contributor to nature-based offsets. As carbon markets grow, market participants are grappling with fundamental and complex questions of the best methods for measuring, reporting, and verifying CO2 removal from forest carbon projects. Forest carbon accounting is complex because of scientific, political, economic, and social uncertainty. To create transparency and foster credibility in compliance and voluntary forest carbon markets, market players have created voluminous monitoring, verifying, and reporting protocols that cover important metrics in carbon crediting like measurement accuracy and precision, additionality, permanence, leakage, environmental justice, transparency, and traceability. Yet, growing markets have led to growing critiques about carbon accounting methods, market stability, and environmental justice concerns.
This seminar series will explore the current state of carbon markets in the United States and ask major market players—including policymakers, registry developers, credit producers, forestland owners, corporate buyers, journalists, and academics—to address the question of “what makes a high-quality forest carbon credit?” and provide suggestions on how we can build credibility and trust in forest carbon credits.
Join us every Thursday from September 8 - December 1 from 11:30am-12:10pm US ET. Note: there will be no webinar on October 20 & November 24.
Connecticut Certified Forest Practitioners may receive 1.0 CEU credits for each live lecture attended. Email yff@yale.edu for further details.
Click here to register. Register once to attend all webinars and to view the recordings.
Date | Speaker | Organization | Theme | Speaker Information |
Webinar (recording and slides) |
September 8 |
Dr. Coeli Hoover - Research Ecologist |
USFS, Northern Research Station |
The Nuts and Bolts of Forest C Storage | Speaker Bio |
Slides |
September 15 |
Dr Rajan Parajuli - Assistant Professor Dr. Stephanie Chizmar - Postdoc |
NC State University College of Natural Resources | Introduction to US Carbon Markets | Speaker Bio | |
September 22 | Dr. Mark Trexler - Developer, The Climate Web; Director, Climatographers |
The Climate Web and Climatographers |
State of the Debate: Critiques of Forest Carbon Credits | Speaker Bio |
Slides |
September 29 | Dr. Marissa Spence - Forestry Manager | Climate Action Reserve | Speaker Bio | ||
October 6 |
Christine Cadigan - Senior Director | American Forest Foundation | Developing a Project: Family Forest Owners | Speaker Bio | |
October 13 |
Bryan Van Stippen - Program Director | National Indian Carbon Coalition | Developing a Project: Indigenous Forest Owners |
Slides |
|
October 27 |
Jim Hourdequin - CEO and Managing Director |
The Lyme Timber Company | Developing a Project: Industry Forest Owners | Speaker Bio | |
November 3 | Tracy Johns - Carbon Removal Specialist | Meta | Buying Carbon Credits | Speaker Bio | |
November 10 | Jacqueline Patterson - Founder and Executive Director | Chisholm Legacy Project |
Carbon Markets and Environmental Justice |
Speaker Bio |
Slides |
November 17 |
Tom Hodgman - Vice President |
Nature Based Solutions, Goldman Sachs |
Climate Investing | Speaker Bio |
Slides |
December 1 | Frances Seymour - Distinguished Senior Fellow | World Resources Institute | Global Perspectives | Speaker Bio | |