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NCX
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The way carbon buyers have traditionally approached carbon markets needs to change. The notion that “every carbon project is automatically good for biodiversity” simply isn’t true. In reality, each carbon project and species has a unique impact and there are a lot of nuances involved. To claim biodiversity benefits, carbon project developers need to provide the relevant quantitative data that carbon buyers can refer to. Without quantitative data to substantiate claims of biodiversity in the carbon market, how can we ever understand the real impact? The carbon credit market has been expanding quickly in recent years, offering financial incentives for individuals, organizations, and governments to participate in reducing carbon emissions and combating the climate crisis. We have a biodiversity crisis and carbon projects offer an opportunity to address some of that, but without clear, accurate measurements on biodiversity, we’ll never know whether it’s working. As the Senior Lead of Natural Capital Development for NCX, Dr. Sophie Gilbert works to expand ecosystem service credits that go beyond carbon credits — and she knows the carbon market needs to do a better job of incorporating biodiversity. In her article, Why Measuring Biodiversity Co-Benefits in Carbon Credits Matters, she paints a transparent picture of the need for biodiversity measurement in carbon credit issuance, what’s at stake if biodiversity isn’t included, and how NCX is doing its part to develop biodiversity in the carbon market. Where is biodiversity in carbon projects? Nature-based carbon projects may tout biodiversity, and biodiversity may play a part in those projects, but existing quantitative data isn't available to back up the claims because only a few rigorous quantitative studies have been conducted. Dr. Gilbert is quick to point out that the lack of quantitative data represents an issue for biodiversity within carbon projects as well as for the effectiveness of the carbon market as a whole. The inability to provide quantitative data on biodiversity in carbon projects leaves carbon buyers in the dark about how effective carbon projects are at delivering benefits to any particular species and it leaves them unable to support projects benefiting biodiversity they may have preferences for. The transparency over biodiversity data through quantitative measurements (both good and bad) will help the carbon market and our planet. Why is biodiversity important and what does it mean for carbon markets? Ecosystems are enormously complex and interconnected. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, ecosystems grow unstable and may collapse. Yet, under the current voluntary carbon market, almost no carbon projects deliver credits with the quantified biodiversity impacts reported. For carbon markets to incorporate biodiversity, carbon developers would need to hire biodiversity experts, acquire data, and generally invest in these metrics as a component of their credits. Without the appetite from developers to self-fund these endeavors, and until buyers are willing to pay a premium for credits with biodiversity quantification, it will simply be a checkbox. This “check-box” mentality may seem harmless, but it actually leads to negative long-term effects. For example, when carbon projects are trying to maximize carbon sequestration but ignoring biodiversity, it can lead to negative outcomes like planting non-native species in ecosystems and planting the same species of plants through monocultures. Ecosystems that lack biodiversity are at risk of being overwhelmed by diseases, fires, and other disturbances, which could harm their ability to store carbon in the long term. The carbon market needs to do more due diligence to prove the impact on biodiversity from carbon credits. Dr. Gilbert says we live in a golden age for measuring and modeling biodiversity. She says, “Rapid progress is happening in field-based data collection tools, remote sensing of habitat attributes, and computing power and modeling approaches. This means we can move toward quantitative models of biodiversity additionality for carbon credits.” What we’re doing to develop the biodiverse carbon market At NCX, we are evaluating how our forest carbon program affects biodiversity. Currently, we are developing multi-species models that assess the habitat quality of bird communities across the Southern United States. We can improve our forest carbon programs and learn how forest carbon programs affect biodiversity through these models. By mapping and addressing how one species creates its habitats in forests, we can better understand the interconnectedness of nature-based carbon capture and the species that facilitate these carbon sinks. In taking this action, we are also making sure that our carbon sinks are a part of healthy ecosystems. While we are developing a habitat quality model for birds, we know that birds aren’t the only creature to make up the forest. These models will help us develop expertise in modeling other indispensable forest species like bats, and terrestrial mammals, among many others. But we need your help to create the multi-species model. If you're interested in contributing to data sharing, method development, certification approaches, or investing in biodiversity, please email science@ncx.com. Want to learn more? We recently hosted our own webinar on Why Biodiversity Matters in the Carbon Credit Market, which you can view here. It explains in-depth the long-term value of biodiversity for landowners, communities, and projects like ours. You’ll also learn about the systems we’re putting in place to track, measure, and reward a more biodiverse carbon credit market.
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Not all carbon capture projects are deep in the Amazon or in faraway corners of the world. Some are in areas where you might least expect, like 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is where NCX landowners, Janet and Raul Chiesa, live and manage their property. The Chiesas have a sprawling 120-acre property dotted with yellow poplar trees. The history of the Chiesa property began with Janet’s great-grandfather, Mr. Sredy, who bought this 120-acre property in the 1920s. Shortly after the purchase, the property began to fall under hard times, with land vegetation being heavily affected by air pollution from a nearby steel mill. By the mid-1950s, the Sredy family faced some tough decisions about the future of the property. However, the Sredy family was undeterred by challenges, and viewed their property as an extension of their family legacy and sought to bring back the land to its former glory. Fast-forwarding to 2007, Janet and Raul formed Beckets Run Woodlands LLC as a way to manage the legacy of the family's property while also generating a source of income. Under Janet and Raul’s stewardship, they’ve enacted forest management plans that emphasize modern approaches to ecosystem-based and economically sustainable forestry practices. The drive to restore the 120-acre property has also guided Janet and Raul to invest in the health of their land. They’ve invested in invasive plant control and implemented timber improvement practices to better the quality and density of the trees on the property, which is beneficial for both carbon sequestration and timber production. Janet and Raul recognize that the opportunity to harvest their valuable timber always will exist, but they also realize that timber harvest prices fluctuate. The variation in timber pricing makes for a challenging decision of the future for Beckets Run Woodlands LLC. In contemplating the future of their family property, the Chiesas began to question what was the best financial decision: to harvest timber or not. When evaluating NCX, Janet and Raul felt comfortable because NCX puts carbon on the same economic footing as timber. It is important to understand how economic decisions can drive environmental decisions. Land is oftentimes the largest financial asset for a family, and harvesting the land has traditionally represented a stable source of income that goes towards paying property taxes or other family expenses. NCX works together with landowners to ensure that they are fairly compensated for preserving their land that otherwise would’ve been cleared for timber harvesting. That way, both the climate and landowners benefit. NCX’s contracts are being evaluated on a yearly basis, and there is no acreage minimum or participation fees to balance. Given this, Janet and Raul felt like becoming NCX landowners was the best decision they could make to weather the fluctuations in the timber and carbon markets. Since NCX doesn't lock them into long-term contracts, Janet and Raul also have more freedom and control over their carbon projects. This gives them the best economic leverage to provide for their family while balancing the legacy of their family’s property. Janet and Raul are aware of the ongoing climate crisis, but they feel optimistic since they view the work of Beckets Run Woodland LLC as a way to fight rising carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The money that Janet and Raul receive from selling carbon credits on the Natural Capital Exchange will be reinvested in continuing their restoration efforts. We invite you to read more about Janet and Raul’s story on our website. https://youtu.be/V9lHCbHlH5c
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Environmental conservation is key
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Conserving the environment for generations. From one generation to the next.
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NCX's solution is so interesting! All landowners should be convinced to join the Natural Capital Exchange
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During the UN climate conference COP27, NCX participated in the COP27 Climate Hub broadcast, an on-site and digital broadcast hosted by We Don’t Have Time from Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. Zack Parisa, Co-founder and CEO of NCX, and Spencer Meyer, Head of Science at NCX, joined the broadcast from Sharm El-Sheikh to talk about how to craft economic incentives for landowners to grow older forests. Zack Parisa and Spencer Meyer met with climate behavioral scientist Dr. Sweta Chakraborty, the US CEO of We Don’t Have Time, to share how NCX is addressing the climate crisis and the role of forestry data in climate action. Forests leading the fight against the climate crisis As a nature-based solution to the climate crisis, trees play a crucial role in reducing society's carbon footprint. But for trees to maximize their potential as carbon sinks, we have to make them a reliable solution, backed by rigorous measurement and accountability. To improve ecosystems and make a positive climate impact, we need to give landowners a financial incentive to save and invest in the health of forests. NCX’s climate solution is to reliably measure and calculate the amount of carbon in forests, producing high quality carbon credits. That means not only enhancing the depth, rigor, and accessibility of forest data in carbon markets, but how that data is used to expand participation by forest landowners. They’re also working to use their comprehensive data to shed light on all the priceless functions forests are responsible for creating, such as biodiversity, water security, and social benefits.. A key component of NCX’s data efforts is enabling transparency and access, so carbon buyers and society can understand what went into making a carbon credit and the real impact it made. Investing in forests is vital to helping reverse deforestation and accelerate decarbonization, and companies and investors deserve to have a transparent view of the results they are delivering. “There’s really good [forestry inventory data], and we combine that in traditional forestry measurements with cutting-edge remote sensing and satellite information. And our engineering team has built a platform to combine this data so we can measure forests and measure change in forests across very large areas. That’s going to allow us to scale up carbon opportunities for individual people, landowners and communities to all participate in this climate crisis,” remarks Head of Science at NCX, Spencer Meyer. The path forward to decarbonization It’s necessary to re-engineer the economy to be greener to overcome the climate crisis. These green transformations are already underway, but we shouldn't forget that trees can make a climate impact today, and they need to be a part of the decarbonization conversation. Co-founder and CEO, Zack Parisa, echoed these sentiments during the We Don’t Have Time COP27 broadcast. “We absolutely have to begin taking every opportunity we can to bend the arc on climate change. We have to change the economy as quickly as we can, but we can’t turn on a dime. While we’re making those critical transitions, forests are the first, best option we have to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce emissions and they are a way to interact directly with communities around the world that are at the most risk of climate change.” says Zack Parisa, CEO of NCX. https://youtu.be/h2-v90zqVkU?t=4191 You can rewatch the COP27 Climate Hub anytime on We Don’t Have Time Play.
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Afforestation and forest conservation is one major solution that every individual can participate in towards reverting climate.
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The best solution is to FIRST stop pollution at its source of burning fuel or we can never get caught up
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@daryl_cleary Agreed, but if we don't protect our forests that won't be enough either unfortunately. We're at the point where we need to do everything all at once to reduce emissions, adapt to climate change and draw down carbon from the atmosphere, otherwise we will fail.
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NCX has reached a progress milestone of sequestering 1.13M metric tonnes CO₂e through one of it’s largest forest carbon projects in the US. Using Microsoft’s AI for Earth program, satellite imagery was combined with field measurements to determine the size and species of trees in every acre of forest. NCX identifies forested acres that are likely to be harvested and rewards landowners that keep them growing. Every living tree absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. The hundreds of millions of acres of forest in the US can play a key role in fighting climate change. Simply deferring harvest and letting trees grow older, one year at a time has a powerful additive effect to their capacity to capture carbon. So far to date, the largest forest carbon project in the US has been created, selling 1.13M metric tonnes CO₂e of carbon offsets. The demand for offsets is continuing to grow and NCX has developed an innovative way to overcome the obstacles that have kept small landowners out of the offset market. This solution will increase available offset projects in the US and also make it possible over time for companies to support local offset projects, thus having an impact close to their operations. NCX recognizes that carbon offsets are not the only solution, they are the ambulance ride to the hospital. It is critical companies use offsets like forest carbon to address what they cannot immediately address in their manufacturing, transportation, and supply chains. Unfortunately changes in operations and products cannot be made overnight, and while our customers work to make those changes we are helping them meet their immediate net-zero goals. We are proud that all our customers to date are prioritizing decarbonization. But, even if every company out there works to decarbonize first, there is still no viable path to our 2030 or 2050 goals without nature based solutions. Forest carbon is the largest portion of that, with the potential to absorb 8.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year through 2050 (23% of yearly global CO2 emissions). Immediately deployable and scalable solutions like forest carbon are how we make progress today while companies work to decarbonize. About NCX: NCX (Natural Capital Exchange) is a trusted provider of high-quality forest credits, founded by Zack Parisa and Max Nova. Their carbon credits have multiple co benefits to ecology and the local people. NCX connects corporations to landowners, habitats and the communities they impact through their carbon marketplace. They enable net-zero pioneers to purchase climate credits with immediate, verifiable impact and landowners to quantify the full value of their forests. Read more: How NCX measures forest carbon: https://ncx.com/basemap/ Clarifying 4 Forest Carbon Project Misconceptions: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/clarifying-4-forest-carbon-project-misconceptions-zack-parisa/?trackingId=bRL2cb5UQTybD5yYGuWvDg%3D%3D
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Hi Brigette, thank you for your questions, we hoped this paragraph would explain our thoughts on this. Please let us know if you have any follow up questions and we'll do our best to answer them. "NCX recognizes that carbon offsets are not the only solution, they are the ambulance ride to the hospital. It is critical companies use offsets like forest carbon to address what they cannot immediately address in their manufacturing, transportation, and supply chains. Unfortunately changes in operations and products cannot be made overnight, and while our customers work to make those changes we are helping them meet their immediate net-zero goals. We are proud that all our customers to date are prioritizing decarbonization. But, even if every company out there works to decarbonize first, there is still no viable path to our 2030 or 2050 goals without nature based solutions. Forest carbon is the largest portion of that, with the potential to absorb 8.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year through 2050 (23% of yearly global CO2 emissions). Immediately deployable and scalable solutions like forest carbon are how we make progress today while companies work to decarbonize."
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You let a tree do what it does already: grow And then you sell the right to pollute to others, because the tree would otherwise have been cut down ? Question: do you believe your actions decrease or increase CO2 emissions ?
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great work! how do you make sure to plant and harvest trees that are "natural" and that belong in the environment of their growth?
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Great accomplishment! Let's keep moving forward
Shared by NCX
We Don't Have Time
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PARTNER UPDATE: By utilizing AI-powered data to generate carbon credits that connect climate-conscious corporations with land owners, NCX makes it profitable to protect forests. There are 740 million acres of forests in the USA. That’s about 7,5 percent of all forests in the world. These trees play an important role in the fight against global warming. Deferring harvest and letting trees grow older, one year at a time, has a powerful additive effect on their capacity to capture carbon. But how do you make landowners keep their trees, when there is more money in cutting them down? The American company NCX, a new partner to We Don’t Have Time, has found a clever solution to this problem. ”We are paying landowners to not harvest their trees. And then we essentially turn that into carbon credits that we sell to corporations and organizations to help them meet their sustainability goals”, says Cheryl Sansonetti, Marketing Director at NCX. The idea was born when NCXs co-founder Zack Parisa was doing fieldwork in Armenia as part of the Yale Forestry Program more than a decade ago. He came to a stark realization: we’ll only get the forests we want if we assemble detailed analyses of the forests we already have. Together with his fellow Yale student, Max Nova, he started working on a market alternative to both the timber industry and legacy carbon projects, and in 2011 they founded SilviaTerra, which later became NCX. Through Microsofts ”AI For Good” initiative, NCX created Basemap, the first high-resolution inventory of all forests on the United States mainland (not including Alaska and Hawaii). Basemap currently has data on 600 million acres – including the species and size of 92 million trees. Using Basemap as the scientific foundation, NCX began creating a marketplace connecting landowners with companies looking to achieve their net-zero emissions goals. A pilot program was launched in 2019 with 20 landowners in Pennsylvania, USA. Today NCX is operating in 39 states, collaborating with nearly 2 500 landowners with a total of 4,3 million acres. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stNlw_CFklc&t= NCX’s software helps landowners map the trees on their property so they can account for how much carbon dioxide they are absorbing, giving companies more confidence that the carbon offsets they’re buying are legit. The expected climate impact of this carbon market – at the current level – is 1.13 million metric tonnes. But it won’t stop there. NCX recently announced it has raised $50 million to fund international expansion and new natural capital markets. ”We have pilots currently in development in two countries and we expect to work on a third this year”, says Cheryl Sansonetti. NCX has also recently decided to become a partner to We Don’t Have Time, the world’s largest review platform for climate solutions. “We Don’t Have Time is bringing an important voice. It raises the conversation that needs to be had, and is very inclusive about that, bringing in people from all geographies and from all kinds of industries”, says Cheryl Sansonetti. ABOUT NCX - NCX, formerly known as SilviaTerra, is ascience-driven forest carbon marketplace delivering large-scale, immediate impact for climate and communities. - NCX stands for ‘Natural Capital Exchange’ and connotes the company’s focus on the future. - NCX monetizes the benefits of forest stewardship through its natural capital marketplace. By using high integrity data and measurements to generate carbon credits, NCX is enabling corporations to meet ambitious net-zero goals with high-quality offsets that support landowners of all sizes. - In March of 2022, NCX announced it raised $50 million from a number of investors, including Marc Benioff’s investment fund, Time Ventures, and J.P. Morgan. - In 2021 NCX broke US records for the largest forest carbon project by acreage. - NCX aims to connect every American landowner to new-zero pioneers. - NCX is Open for Climate Dialogue. Send them your opinions.
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The more I think about this, the more disgusted I am, especially since this is posted on a platform that deals with climate solutions. NCX claims that THEY have already stored a total of 1.13 million megatons of CO2eq, i.e. 1130 GT of CO2eq. That figure in itself is suspicious. Humanity emits about 50 GT CO2eq per year. They have stored a whopping 22.6 times the annual global GHG emissions ? Then you read the article and it turns out that they have stored the CO2 by not cutting down trees ... by doing nothing. Subsequently they sell the "avoided" CO2 emissions as carbon credits. Anyone who knows anything about climate change knows that nature emits much more CO2 than man. For the biosphere, this is about 440 GT CO2/year. This argument was often used by climate deniers in the past: "man emits only a fraction of the CO2 emitted by nature". However, nature also absorbs this CO2. There is a balance between emission and absorption, and the same cannot be said of man's CO2 emissions. It is mankind that causes the imbalance between CO2 emissions and absorption, it is mankind that causes climate change. The net figures are all that counts. OK, so the biosphere absorbs 440 GT CO2eq/year (and emits the same amount). Apparently some people have suddenly spotted an opportunity there. If nature absorbs that much, it suddenly, magically gives us the right to pollute more. We've hit the jackpot. Suddenly we are entitled to emit 440 GT of CO2 per year ? Here's some incredibly good news: we can emit a lot more CO2, and what's more, we are magically, and without doing anything, automatically carbon neutral. However, here is the problem. What about nature's right to emit those 440 GT CO2/year ? How are we going to forbid nature to do that ? You can say "by not cutting down trees". But trees have a life cycle. Trees die one day and then release the stored carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2. In the long term, the biosphere is carbon neutral. So in the long run, there are no carbon credits to give away at all on that basis. A real carbon offset = taking CO2 out of the fast carbon cycle (preferably from the atmosphere), and storing it permanently in the slow carbon cycle (e.g. in the soil). If you would harvest biomass for example, and store the harvested carbon permanently, and then sow a new harvest, you could possibly sell that as a carbon credit. NCX does not sell carbon credits, it sells indulgences. In the Middle Ages, the Church offered indulgences to the faithful, with which they could buy off their sins and thus go to heaven after death. A carbon credit is the modern version of an indulgence. It is a way to get rid of our feeling of guilt but at the same time to continue business as usual. No wonder it is a lucrative new market. However, it will not save the climate. The question whether this "solution" reduces or even increases GHG emissions must be investigated in all seriousness.
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It's so smart! 💚
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This method should be scaled and spread around the globe!
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I agree with NCX, Biodiversity should be at the forefront of carbon credits.
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It's great to read that NCX is developing multi-species models that assess the habitat quality of bird communities across the Southern United States! I recently read in a Pachama We Don't Have Time article that nearly 60% of all North American birds call Louisiana their home at some point.
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I really support it because carbon contains some harmful particles which are responsible for global warming hence should be used in small quantities and eventually abandoned