Tierra Resources

Source Ecosystem Marketplace

Though everyone here at Ecosystem Marketplace is complaining about the bitterly cold winds sweeping through (from Siberia!), at least the gales aren’t stronger. Hurricane season causes even more grief something that Gulf of Mexico-based energy utility Entergy has not forgotten.

The company just funded a two-year assessment of the potential to develop blue carbon projects on Louisiana’s coast. The findings from the report, scheduled to be shared in a free webinar on March 5, estimate that carbon finance revenue can provide up to $1.6 billion in critical funding to assist with wetland restoration over the next 50 years. Restoration efforts in Louisiana could potentially produce more than 1.8 million offsets per year and almost 92 million offsets over 50 years — the equivalent of taking about 350,000 cars off the road each year or 20 million cars off the road over 50 years.

New Orleans-based developer Tierra Resources and Portland-based nonprofit The Climate Trust did most of the legwork for this report, examining existing wetland restoration techniques, river diversions, hydrologic restoration, wetland assimilation, and mangrove plantings and identifying areas for future scientific investigation to support carbon offset programs. Of the restoration techniques studied, forested wetlands that receive treated municipal waste have the highest net offset yield per acre.

However, the high cost of wetland restoration is the primary barrier to wetland carbon commercialization identified in the report. Carbon finance will likely lead to new public-private partnerships that leverage carbon funds with government restoration dollars to stimulate investment into wetland projects.

Ecosystem Marketplace will continue to cover critical developments related to wetlands projects on our website and in our annual State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report . We would like to remind all of you that our annual carbon markets survey closes on March 4th!

We’re calling for every organization’s participation, be it a project developer or broker/retailer. If you haven’t received an invitation, go check it out here . If you’ve already seen the email, expect follow-up phone calls soon (very soon, unless you fill out the survey — then we’ll leave you alone).

The shorter data collection period will allow us to produce more reports, including a new report specially focused on exploring the North American carbon markets. Contingent on receiving sufficient data, we’ll break down North American demand for carbon offsets in 2014 according to price, project type, voluntary versus compliance, and by state or province.

A gentle reminder that this critical, thought-provoking work will only be possible with the financial support of our loyal and eager audiences. Sponsors benefit from exposure logo placement on reports that are downloaded tens of thousands of times and shout-outs in this news brief as well as further insight into our findings through tailored briefings. And that’s not to mention influence: Ecosystem Marketplace’s reports have been cited in the development of emerging carbon pricing programs from South Africa to South Korea, and supporting our research is a good opportunity to influence these discussions. To sponsor one of these exciting Ecosystem Marketplace products, contact Gloria Gonzalez .

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