Methodology for Voluntary Emission Reductions in Rice Management Systems

The American Carbon Registry (ACR), a non-profit enterprise of Winrock International, welcomes feedback from its members, project proponents and other interested parties on a new methodology for Voluntary Emission Reductions in Rice Management Systems . The methodology was developed by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in partnership with the California Rice Commission (CRC), Applied Geosolutions, LLC, and Terra Global Capital LLC.

The methodology is applicable to Agricultural Land Management (ALM) project activities that involve a change in rice cultivation practices. Approved activities under this version of the methodology include (1) reducing the duration and frequency of winter flooding, (2) removal of rice straw from the field after harvest and before winter flooding, and (3) replacing water seeding with dry seeding. Currently only activities in California are eligible, however, the methodology includes a provision for expansion to additional practices and additional geographical regions through later modules.

Baseline and project emissions are quantified using the Denitrification – Decomposition (DNDC) model, with a deduction to account for uncertainty induced by the model and variation in input parameters. All parameters or management decisions that are not related to the project activities must be identical between the project and baseline scenarios.

“Voluntary” in the methodology title refers to the fact that use of this methodology to create GHG offsets is purely voluntary for growers, and is not meant to identify the market for the resulting offsets (voluntary, pre-compliance or compliance).

Projects using this methodology must comply with all requirements of the ACR Standard, submit a GHG Project Plan for certification by ACR, and secure independent validation and verification by an ACR-approved third-party verifier.

Please send all comments by close of business July 22, 2011 to publiccomment@americancarbonregistry.org referencing “rice methodology.”