News
Advancing Avoided Deforestation:
From Policy to Practice
February 28, 2008
Le Meridien Hotel
333 Battery Street – San Francisco, CA
On February 28, AD Partners and PG&E will host a roundtable discussion in San Francisco on practical approaches to stimulating investment in avoided deforestation projects. Following the UNFCCC COP13 decision on REDD, we face the challenge of developing new financing mechanisms to support avoided deforestation projects, sustainable forestry, and the maintenance of intact forest ecosystems. Advancing Avoided Deforestation will tackle this challenge by bringing together perspectives and expertise from policy and legal experts, government officials, investors, project developers, and NGOs from around the world to discuss how to move policy forward and encourage investment that brings projects into fruition. The roundtable is by invitation only and will be held in San Francisco, CA.
8:30 – 9:00
Light breakfast / assemble in second floor foyer
9:00 – 10:15
Welcome: Introduction and General Remarks
Jeff Horowitz – Founder, Avoided Deforestation Partners
Peter Darbee – Chairman, CEO and President, PG&E Corp.
Steve McCormick – President, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Marc Stuart – Founder, EcoSecurities
Ken Newcombe – Director, US Carbon Emissions Trading, Goldman Sachs
Diana Suarez – Fundación GAIA Amazonas, Colombia
10:15 – 11:00
Overview of Recent Policy Development
Moderator’s Introduction: Robert O’Sullivan, Climate Focus
California Update (Laurie Wayburn, President, Pacific Forest Trust)
Lieberman-Warner Update (Ruben Kraiem, Covington & Burling)
Overview of US state and federal legislation (Kyle Danish, Van Ness Feldman)
The relevance of REDD for the US (Scott Settelmyer, TerraCarbon)
International Policy Developments Update (Manuel Estrada, Mexico)
11:00 – 12:15
Roundtable Session I: Policy Developments and the US
Open discussion focused on current US and international policy, possible
directions it will take, and what this means for US businesses.
12:15 – 1:15
Lunch
1:15 – 2:15
REDD Projects: International and Domestic
Moderator’s introduction: Charlotte Streck, Climate Focus
Introduction to REDD projects (Charlotte Streck, Climate Focus)
Voluntary carbon standards and REDD (Joanna Durbin, CCBA)
Garcia River project, California (Chris Kelly, The Conservation Fund)
Noel Kempff project, Bolivia (Zoe Kant, The Nature Conservancy)
Mantadia project, Madagascar (Toby Janson-Smith, Conservation International)
Aceh project, Indonesia (John Niles, Carbon Conservation)
2:15 – 3:00
Roundtable Session II: Project Evaluation and
Lessons Learned
Open discussion focused on REDD projects from the view of a project
developer as well as a buyer of credits.
3:00 – 3:15
Coffee Break
3:15 – 3:45
Roundtable Session III: Views from the Market – Utilities and Investors
Potential REDD investors and utilities will initiate an open discussion of their
views on the REDD market and what is required to stimulate their engagement
in this sector.
3:45 – 5:15
Roundtable Session IV: Moving Forward
Open discussion focused on what needs to be done to stimulate REDD moving
forward: creating a supply of and demand for REDD credits, treatment of
credits in future trading regimes, concerns over market flooding, promoting
recognition of REDD offsets in US policy proposals, pre-compliance and
rewarding of early action, and mutual recognition of different state and
international initiatives.
5:15 – 5:30
Summary: Rick Saines provides a summary of the day’s discussions.
5:30 – 8:00
Cocktail Reception at Baker & McKenzie
Two Embarcadero Center, 11 th Floor
Participants List
Conference Organizers
1. Jeffrey Horowitz – Avoided Deforestation Partners, Berkeley, CA
2. Steve Kline – VP Corporate Environmental and Federal Affairs, PG&E Corp., Washington, DC
3. Charlotte Streck – AD Partners; Director and Founder, Climate Focus B.V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands
4. Rick Saines – AD Partners; Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Chicago, IL
5. Robert O’Sullivan – AD Partners; Executive Director North America, Climate Focus, Washington, DC
6. Toby Janson-Smith – AD Partners; Senior Director, Conservation International, Washington, DC
7. Kyle Danish – Partner, Van Ness Feldman, PC, Washington, DC
8. Aimée Christensen – Christensen Global Strategies LLC, San Francisco, CA
Featured Speakers
9. Peter Darbee – Chairman, CEO, and President, PG&E Corp., San Francisco, CA
10. Steve McCormick – President, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, San Francisco, CA
11. Marc Stuart – Founding Partner, EcoSecurities, United States and United Kingdom
12. Ken Newcombe – Director, US Carbon Emissions Trading, Goldman Sachs, New York, NY
13. Diana Suarez – Fundación GAIA Amazonas, Colombia
Presenters
14. Laurie Wayburn – President, The Pacific Forest Trust, San Francisco, CA (California update)
15. Ruben Kraiem – Attorney, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, DC (Washington legislative update)
16. Scott Settelmyer – TerraCarbon LLC, Austria (Relevance of REDD for the US)
17. Manuel Estrada – Climate Change Consultant, Mexico (Bali recap)
18. Joanna Durbin – Director, Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance, Washington, DC (VCS and REDD)
19. Chris Kelly – California Program Director, The Conservation Fund, California (Garcia River project, CA)
20. Zoe Kant – Manager of Carbon Finance, The Nature Conservancy, Washington, DC (Noel Kempff, Bolivia)
21. John Niles – Carbon Conservation, Lismore, New South Wales (Ulu Masen forest in Aceh, Indonesia)
Roundtable Participants
22. Edwin Aalders – Director, International Emissions Trading Association, Geneva, Switzerland
23. Ralph Ashton – Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, Sydney, Australia
24. Ricardo Bayon – Co-founder, EKO Asset Management Partners, San Francisco, CA and New York, NY
25. Bruce Braine – Senior VP Energy Services, American Electric Power, Columbus, OH
26. Dan Braun – Global Director of Environmental Finance, Stark Investments, United Kingdom
27. Dirk Brinkman – Founder and CEO, Brinkman and Associates Reforestation Ltd., Vancouver, Canada
28. Arquimedes Broce – Climate Change and Desertification Unit, ANAM, Panama
29. Rhett Butler– Mongabay.com, San Francisco, CA
30. Alan Chang – Principal & Managing Director, Capricorn Investment Group LLC (Jeff Skoll), Palo Alto, CA
31. Albert Cho – McKinsey and Company, New York, NY
32. Stephen Colwell – Executive Director, Sea Change Foundation, San Francisco, CA
33. Lisa Curran – Yale School of Forestry, New Haven CT
34. Ted Dreyfus – William J. Clinton Foundation, New York, NY
35. Sally Ericsson – The Pacific Forest Trust, Washington, DC
36. Charlie Finnie – Portfolio Manager, Piper Jaffray Green Fund, San Franvcisco, CA
37. Brad Gentry – Yale School of Forestry, New Haven, CT
38. Richard Gilbert – Professor of Economics, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
39. Kate Hamilton – Managing Director, Ecosystem Marketplace, Washington, DC
40. Lawrence Hobel – Attorney, Partner, Heller Ehrman LLP, San Francisco, CA
41. Michael Jenkins – President and CEO, Forests Trends, Washington, DC
42. Tracy Johns – Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA
43. Gerrity Lansing – President, Equator Environmental, New York, NY
44. Michelle Lapinski – Founding Principal, SustainBiz, San Francisco, CA
45. Donna Lee – US Department of State, Office of Global Change, Washington, DC
46. Warwick Manfrinato - PLANT Inteligência Ambiental, Sao Paulo, Brazil
47. Marisa Meizlish – Manager of Advisory Services, New Forests, Australia
48. Jeff Metcalfe – Director, Tropical Forest Group, Santa Barbara, CA
49. Erin Myers – Resources for the Future, Santa Barbara, CA
50. Joe Nation – Principal co-author of AB 32, California's Global Warming Solutions Act, Emeryville, CA
51. Wolfgang Ortloff – Dir. of Environmental Assets Management, Equator Environmental, New York, NY
52. Robert Parkhurst – PG&E ClimateSmart Environmental Policy Manager, San Francisco, CA
53. Michelle Passero – EcoSecurities, San Francisco, CA
54. Gabe Petlin – Director, Regulatory Affairs and Carbon Markets, 3Degrees, San Francisco, CA
55. Lila M. Preston – Generation Investment Management LLP, United Kingdon
56. Scott Porter – Director, Corporate Development, 3Degrees, San Francisco, CA
57. Walter Reid – Director, Conservation & Science, The David & Lucille Packard Foundation, Los Altos, CA
58. Eduardo Reyes – National Environmental Authority of Panama (ANAM), Panama
59. George Richa – Environmental Economic Unit, ANAM, Panama
60. Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio – Senior Research Associate, Rockefeller Foundation, New York, NY
61. James Russell – William J. Clinton Foundation New York, NY
62. Carole Saint-Laurent – Senior Forest Policy Officer, IUCN, Geneva, Switzerland
63. Blake Schaefer – Global Environmental Finance, Stark Investments, United Kingdom
64. Jacob Scherr – Director, International Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC
65. Robert Seaton – Silviculture Analyst, Brinkman and Associates Reforestation Ltd., Vancouver, Canada
66. Brian Steen – Director, Sempervirens Fund, Los Gatos, CA
67. Lee Stein – Founder, Chair of Prize Capital, Rancho Santa Fe, California
68. Cheri Sugal – Executive Director, Rainforest2Reef, Tahoe City, California
69. David Tepper – Carbon Forestry Consultant, United Kingdom
70. Chris Tuite – Director USA, Green Belt Movement, Washington, DC
71. Derek Walker – California Climate Initiative, Environmental Defense Fund, Sacramento, CA
72. Steve Zwick – Managing Editor - Ecosystem Marketplace, Chicago, IL and Cologne, Germany