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The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association is encouraging producers to take part in a federal consultation process over carbon credits. The SSCA believes farmers should get credit for practices such as zero-till farming which sequester carbon in the ground.
Spencer Kemp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association (SSCA) is calling for farmers to review the Government of Canada’s proposed Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System regulations and provide their feedback. The proposed regulations are currently open for comments and will remain open until May 5, 2021, for a total of 60 days. Jocelyn Velestuk, an SSCA director, says there are points the group wants farmers to think about as they provide their feedback.
Enhanced Soil Organic Carbon
The federal offset protocols are only intended to apply in those
Canadian provinces and territories that do not address the same
project activity through an existing regional offset program. Since
the Minister is expected to recognize many of the common offset
regimes currently enacted by provinces and territories (including
those dealing with the production of renewable energy from wind or
solar), it makes sense for the federal government to concentrate on
finalizing these less common protocols.
b. Application Criteria
A project description, including location, start date, BAU and
project scenarios
An estimate of the total GHG reductions to be achieved by the
March 5, 2021
The federal government has unveiled the draft regulations for its Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System, which is designed to facilitate the generation and trade of credits for projects and practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The development of the Federal Greenhouse Gas Offset System will mean farmers can be recognized and rewarded for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions on their farms by implementing practices that improve the carbon sequestered in their soil,” notes Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, in a statement.
While the regulations are published in the March 6 edition of Canada Gazette, they mainly cover the over-arching requirements under the system the actual details on how farms will earn and get paid for these offsets is still to be determined.