CEA and the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) are calling on organizations and businesses that have taken or want to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to stand and have their community carbon credits counted!
Following an award-winning pilot with the City of Duncan and receiving funding from Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET), the Community Carbon Marketplace (CCM) is now launching in the Comox Valley.
The CCM, a not-for-profit initiative of Cowichan Energy Alternatives Society (CEA), is an online community carbon exchange that helps local governments and businesses meet carbon neutral objectives through the purchase of community carbon credits (C3) generated by local organizations and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Funds from the purchase of each C3 go to the organizations and projects that produce them, sustaining the CCM, and ultimately the growth of the local low-carbon economy (community resilience). All the selected businesses and organization will be listed on the CCM as part of the Comox Valley Community Carbon Marketplace for purchase by the CVRD, local governments within the region, and any other buyer that wishes to support local green initiatives while lowering their carbon footprint. If your organization or business is working on a green project that reduces GHG emissions, such as using renewable fuel/energy, organics composting, land conservation/restoration etc, you may be doing more than a good thing for the environment – you may be generating revenue which, until now, you haven’t been able to access in the form of community carbon credits (C3s). These C3s can then be listed and sold through the CCM as part of the Comox Valley Regional District’s objective of meeting its carbon-neutral commitment entirely from community sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions.
CCM not only provides a chance for you to generate additional funds, but also a platform for you to showcase your GHG reduction initiatives. Your listing on the CCM could be used for marketing, publicity, public announcements and generating funding campaigns.
The CVRD is the first regional government to step up and support this local carbon reduction initiative. "Our organization is committed to being carbon neutral for corporate operations," said Edwin Grieve, CVRD chair. "This project nicely aligns with our interest in finding local projects which not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also have additional benefits for the valley."
The CCM supports credible, ethical community-based GHG reduction projects by ensuring community dollars are transparently directed to local organizations and businesses to invest in growing the local green economy.
For more information on the Community Carbon Marketplace, visit the CCM website at: www.communitycarbonmarketplace.org
To determine the community carbon credit potential of your project, visit the CEA website at: www.cowichanenergy.org