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Forest Carbon Project Design & Development

ClearSky is comprised of an experienced team of professionals who work to develop forest carbon offset projects. We are adept at identifying quality prospective projects, assessing technical and financial feasibility, conducting project design, and carrying out implementation and monitoring. ClearSky strives to create or improve frameworks in which projects can be sustained socially, economically, and environmentally over the long-term. Our team has significant experience working with, and building the capacities of, institutions and organizations in developing countries to bring a forest carbon project to market. ClearSky has designed forest carbon projects for private companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations in domestic and international settings. This experience includes designing and implementing reforestation (A/R) projects under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism framework, designing Reduced 

The Process:

ClearSky works with the project owner, or proponent, to create carbon offsets from a project activity. Project owners are landowners or land-owning groups that are creating the emission reductions.

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Each project is unique, because each property, facility, and owner is unique. ClearSky will generate a proof of concept document based on the landowner’s completion of an information-gathering document – the project idea note. The concept document will determine for the owner if their project is eligible to receive carbon offsets and what carbon certification standard and associated methodology is appropriate. The owner then enters into a contract for professional services with ClearSky to conduct project development. Project development generally takes 9-18 months. The landowner will begin receiving carbon revenue after project development has been completed and the project has been approved by a carbon certification standard.

Our Services: 

We help develop projects that deliver large amounts of emission reductions, as well as valuable benefits to local communities and native ecosystems. Our projects are real, additional, permanent, and certified under leading certification standards to ensure that the carbon offsets are legitimate and demonstrable. We pursue project certification under leading and globally recognized standards including the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), or Climate Action Reserve (CAR). Our projects not only produce emission reductions, but produce other social and environmental co-benefits. We support a participatory approach in all the projects we pursue to help ensure sustainable solutions that meet the needs of project stakeholders. Our scope of services comprises the complete cycle from project identification to implementation.

Depending on the capacities and needs of the owner, project development entails all or some of the following:

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  • Selection of appropriate carbon project standard

  • Identification and coordination of various stakeholders or partners

  • Preparation of project time-line and budget

  • Application of existing, or development of a new, carbon methodology for calculation and modeling

  • Generation of a carbon management plan which can be inserted into an existing forest management plan

  • Preparation and submission of the full project design document to the appropriate carbon certification standard

  • Coordination of third-party project validation and verification

  • Resolution of any corrective actions that may arise

  • Developing marketing materials, educational pieces, or grant proposals for financiers, decision-makers or leadership

  • Brokerage of the projects carbon offsets

  • Assurance that the project honors the owner’s requests and any existing commitments to environmental or social objectives

Next Steps for Project Ideas:

If you have a forest carbon project, or think you might have one, and are looking for assistance in: determining viability, identifying the best project development pathways, identifying next steps, understanding costs and time involved, seeking investment, or looking for buyers please Contact Us.

 Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) activities, and conducting feasibility assessments for REDD, A/R, and Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects. Our goal is to reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration from projects with a forest conservation orientation.

ClearSky is developing new forest carbon projects throughout the tropics. Our primary focus is to support forest carbon climate change mitigation through sustainable community development as part of REDD activities. As project developers, ClearSky pursues only high-quality projects that deliver multiple benefits, including biodiversity conservation, employment, income generation, capacity development and improved governance for socially and economically disadvantaged people. Our projects are designed to meet the rigorous certification requirements of preeminent, internationally-accepted, carbon standards. We develop each project openly and transparently to ensure project credibility and equitable benefit distribution for all project stakeholders.

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