The Pacific Carbon Standard (PCS) defines the requirements for developing high-quality offsets to be recognized as Pacific Carbon Units (PCU). The Standard is based on the Emission Offsets Regulation (EOR) established under the British Columbia (BC) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act (the Act).
A PCU is a carbon offset credit that contains all of the financial and environmental benefits associated with the process of greenhouse gas reductions that generated the offset, up to the point of the retirement of that credit. Markit’s Environmental Registry is the initial platform to issue, serialize, transfer, retire, inquire and report on Pacific Carbon Standard PCUs.
The PCS requires that each PCU meets the criteria established in the BC Emission Offsets Regulation, which includes conformance with ISO 14064. They must also pass three rounds of independent third-party audits. In order for a PCU to be issued, it must meet the following requirements:
1) The associated emission reduction or removal enhancement project is registered on a Pacific Carbon Trust approved registry;
2) Emission reductions and/or removal enhancements (offsets) are expressed in tonnes of each specific greenhouse gas measured in carbon dioxide equivalent;
3) A Project Plan is developed meeting the requirements established in the EOR;
4) The Project Plan is accompanied by a Validation Report, Validation Statement of Assurance and Cover Letter meeting the requirements established in the EOR;
5) A Project Report is developed meeting the requirements established in the EOR;
6) The Project Report is accompanied by a Verification Report, Verification Statement of Assurance and Cover Letter meeting the requirements established in the EOR;
7) The project is quantified using a Pacific Carbon Trust approved protocol;
8) In cases where PCUs are intended to be retired on behalf of the BC provincial government, the project proponent must have transferred ownership of the emission reductions and/or removal enhancements to Pacific Carbon Trust; and,
9) All documentation described above is checked for completeness by an approved third-party registry service before the final issuance of PCUs.
For more detailed information on requirements, see the Guidance Document to the BC Emission Offsets Regulation.
The Markit PCS Registry tracks projects and associated PCUs, whether developed through Pacific Carbon Trust or independently, from initial issuance through to retirement. All approved Units can be managed through the Markit PCS Registry service.
This service allows a project proponent to enter and manage all PCU project details. These can be entered at any stage in a project lifecycle, and then tracked through issuance. Full user information can be found on the "User Only Section" of the Registry, and accessed with an appropriate user name and password.
A project can be registered on a Pacific Carbon Trust-approved registry service once the Project Plan has been submitted and approved according to the PCS and its registry provider (see the PCU requirements for Project Plans above).
The project’s emission reductions and/or removal enhancements are eligible to be recognized as offsets once the Project Report has been submitted and approved according to the PCS and its registry provider (see the PCU requirements for Project Reports above).
Once an offset meets the requirements of the PCS and the EOR, it can be officially issued as a PCU by a Pacific Carbon Trust-approved registry service.