Development:
June 2020: Agriculture Criteria released
March 2019: Protected Agriculture Criteria in Mexico released November 2018: Forestry Criteria released
May 2016: Land Use Phase II Technical Working Group established
Dec 2015: Public consultation closed
Sep 2015: Public consultation opened
Oct 2014: Land Use Phase I Technical Working Group established
Land Use Criteria and the Climate Bonds Standard
Latest update: There is not a general Land Use Criteria available for certification. It was decided, after much external and internal consultation, that it was necessary to break down the Land Use Criteria into separate sectors to give more detailed guidance on low-carbon investment in each relevant sector. Therefore, in August 2017, the Forestry TWG was convened and took the work which the Land Use TWGs had done to create the Forestry Criteria, which was released for certification in November 2018. The Criteria for Protected Agriculture in Mexico was released in March 2019 and a separate Agriculture Criteria was released in June 2020.
What do we mean by Land Use Criteria?
Land use sectors – specifically Agriculture, Forestry & Other Land Use (or AFOLU) – were identified by Climate Bonds as priority areas for the development of robust criteria under the Climate Bonds Standard.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Agriculture and Forestry together contributed 22% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that such emissions have nearly doubled over the past 50 years and could increase a further 30% by 2050 without greater effort to reduce them. The United Nations estimates that an additional investment of $14bn by 2030 will be required to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change on AFOLU-sectors. At the same time, land use sectors can be a significant strategy for mitigating climate change through sequestration.
Therefore, Climate Bonds initially set out to develop Land Use Criteria that would screen investments in land use assets and related projects that are most strongly in line with the Paris Accord – in other words, those that are compatible with an emission trajectory that limits global temperature rise to 1.5oC or lower.
However, it was decided that, to improve the ambition of each the Criteria, the land sector should be tackled by several separate criteria. That means specific criteria serving sectors such as agriculture, forestry and land conservation & restoration.
Credit Suisse, SECO and Rabobank have kindly supported this work.
1. Read more about the Climate Bonds Standard
2. Email certification@climatebonds.net for more information
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Land Use Technical and Industry Working Groups
| TWG Member | |
| Tanja Havemann, Lead Specialist, Clarmondial | Christine Negra, Lead Specialist, Versant Vision |
| Dr. David Ganz, USAID's Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (USAID LEAF) | Dr. Adam Chambers, NRCS-National Air Quality and Atmospheric Change Team, USDA |
| Henry Neufeldt, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) | Paul Chatterton, WWF International |
| Prof. Molly Jahn, Department of Agronomy, University Wisconsin-Madison | Frank Hicks, Independent Consultant |
| Jerry Seager, Verified Carbon Standard | Martial Bernoux, French Research Institute for Development, SCOPE |
| David Howlett, Climate Change & Livelihoods Adviser, Department for International Development | Dr. Rizaldi Boer, Centre for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management in Southeast Asia Pacific (CCROM-SEAP) |
| Bastiaan Louman, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y EnseÑanza (CATIE) | Jane Feehan, European Investment Bank |
| Brett Shields, Asia LEDS Partnership and Spatial Informatics Group | Simon Petley, Director, EnviroMarket |
| Mark New, Director & Pro-VC for Climate Change, African Climate & Development Initiative | Keith Alverson, Environmental Policy Implementation, UNEP |
| Roseline Remans, Research Scientist, Bioversity International | Dr. Geoff Blate, Asia Regional Forest Advisor, US Forest Service |
| Rupert Edwards, Senior Advisor, Forest Trends | Naomi Swickard, Director, Verified Carbon Standard |
| Raylene Watson, Managing Director SADC, EBS Advisory | Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary, Global Forum on Agricultural Research |
| Annett Thiele, University Greifswald | Lamon Rutten, Manager, Tech Centre for Agricultural & Rural Co-operation |
| Vikrom Mathur, Observer Research Foundation | Deborah O'Connell, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Land & Water |
| Driss Ezzine de Blas, CIRAD |
The Land Use Industry Working Group members include:
| Tanja Havemann, Lead Specialist, Clarmondial | Hans Biemans & Justin Sherrard, Rabobank |
| Marc Sadler, World Bank | Brian Kernohan, Hancock Natural Resources Group |
| John Tobin & Fabian Huwyler, Credit Suisse | Howard-Yana Shapiro, Mars / UC Davis |
| Oli Haltia, Dasos Capital | Tim McGavin, Laguna Bay |
| Karla Canavan | Esben Brandi, Quantum Global |
| Marcos Mancini, Banorte | Cristiano Oliveria, Fibria |
| Andrew Voysey, Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership | Jason Green, ECOM Trading |
| Lara Yacob, The Nature Conservancy | Mads Asprem, Green Resources |
| Chris Brown, Olam | Howard-Yana Shapiro, Mars / UC Davis |
| John Simpson, Duxton Asset Management | Katalin Solymosi, IADB |
| Timm Tennigkeit, UNIQUE | Michael Hendriksz, ADM |
| Stephen McDowell, Barclays | Rishi Madlani, Royal Bank of Scotland |
| Caroline Cruickshank, Bank of New York Mellon | Ali bin Mohamed, Hassad Foods |
| Jamie Bartlett, Bank of New York Mellon |
Disclaimer:
"The Climate Bonds Standard Board operates legally as an advisory committee of the Climate Bonds Initiative Board and oversees the development of the Climate Bonds Standard. Neither the Climate Bonds Standard Board nor any organisation, individual or other person forming part of, or representing, the Climate Bonds Standard Board (together, "CBSB") accepts or owes any duty, liability or responsibility of any kind whatsoever to any issuer which wishes to apply for any of its bonds to be certified under the Climate Bonds Certification Scheme ("Scheme"), or to any issuer whose bonds may at any time be certified under the Scheme or to any other person or body whatsoever, whether with respect to the award or withdrawal of any certification under the Scheme or otherwise. All advice or recommendations with respect to any certification under the Scheme or otherwise that CBSB provides to the Climate Bonds Initiative Board is provided to it in an advisory capacity only and is not to be treated as provided or offered to any other person”