Climate Policy Hill Briefing on Domestic Offsets

Briefing on Domestic Offsets in a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Cap-and-Trade System

March 6, 2009

  Watch a video of this briefing:  Windows Media Player [1]

Audio Only [2]

The Pew Center held a Congressional briefing on the role and function of domestic offsets in a mandatory GHG cap-and-trade system. Given the importance of offsets as a cost-containment measure in cap-and-trade system design, the intent of this briefing was to show that domestic offsets can be a viable and reliable way of acheiving low-cost GHG emissions reductions.    

Speakers (and topics):

• Nikki Roy, Vice President for Federal Government Outreach, Pew Center on Global Climate Change (introduction)
• Janet Peace, Vice President for Markets and Business Strategy, Pew Center on Global Climate Change (moderator; offsets issues and options)
  Presentation [3]
• Wiley Barbour, Executive Director, Environmental Resources Trust/Winrock (quality offsets)
  Presentation [4]
• Garth Boyd PhD, PAS; Senior Vice President, Agriculture, Camco (anatomy of an agricultural offsets project)
  Presentation [5]
• Bill Irving, Chief of the Program Integration Branch, Climate Change Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs, EPA (EPA's analysis of offsets)
  Presentation [6]
   

Briefing Highlights

• Offsets can significantly reduce the costs of a cap-and-trade program.
• Offsets standards have proliferated in the absence of guidance from the Federal government. 

Related Materials

Brief on Offsets in a Domestic Cap and Trade Program [7]

More climate change policy briefs [8]

Back to list of Briefing Videos [9]

-This series was made possible through a generous grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, but the opinions expressed herein are solely those of the presenters.-