On July 29, 2010 California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff released new details regarding the proposed design of the offset system for the state’s cap-and-trade program. In addition to recognizing the role of offsets in reducing the cost of compliance in a cap-and-trade program and the importance of quality offsets in maintaining environmental integrity, ARB staff proposed to:

• utilize an existing third-party offsets structure, such as the Reserve, rather than build a new structure from scratch
• adopt four of the Reserve’s protocols that address forestry, manure management digesters, urban forestry and ozone depleting substances
• recognize the Reserve’s offset credits, Climate Reserve Tonnes, that have been issued under these protocols
• consider adopting additional Reserve protocol

The full statement issued by ARB staff is available online.