Many investments being made are essentially “bets” on the bill that ultimately emerges from Congress, said Mary Grady, a director at the American Carbon Registry.
“The current legislation is very favorable ... It is a wonderful first step and it is sending the first signals to the market. But the general feeling is that the legislation is not going to pass in its current form,” she said.
Once the bill passes, 900 million tonnes of carbon could accumulate in the market by 2012 or 2013, when the regulations are supposed to take effect. The American Carbon Registry currently has 22 projects worth about 27 million tonnes.
Grady also said carbon traders worried that the legislation currently says that the “administrator,” which depending on the project could be the Environmental Protection Agency or the US Department of Agriculture, will approve programs — but it has not named the programs.
“If it was clear people would have lots of confidence in making their investments but people don’t know where to place their bets,” she said.
‘GREEN JOBS’
Getting a project verified has spawned a whole new industry that could create some of the “green jobs” US President Barack Obama has said will go with the new green economy.
These include independent, third party project verifiers who apply financial accounting techniques while also using gadgets like gas analyzers to measure carbon tonnage.
Back at the field in Colorado, Sutton says if this project were to become a reality — a big if — it would have to meet the stringent standards of the voluntary market and show it is removing more carbon from the atmosphere than would have happened naturally.
For now, the wheat will remain.
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