Course fee:
$950.00

Exam fee:
$175.00

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Many governments, companies and other organizations are taking action to manage their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a cause of climate change. Projects can reduce or avoid GHG emissions that cause climate change. These actions can reduce the overall emissions of a company or create tradable credits to offset emissions in order to become carbon neutral. Coal mine methane (CMM) projects are an important source of offsets. There are a number of GHG accounting standards for a variety of offset programs. This course provides guidance so you can navigate these programs as well as comprehensive and detailed technical instruction on accounting for GHG reductions, project emissions, and displacement at CMM projects, which will help your organization:

• Understand coal mining as it relates to CMM emissions
• Recognize methods of CMM extraction and opportunities for methane mitigation
• Identify end-use options for CMM and methods for calculating resulting GHG emission reductions and project emissions using various methodologies
• Document and report CMM emission reductions as prescribed by different methodologies
• Utilize effective monitoring and recordkeeping procedures at a CMM project, facilitating verification and production of fungible offset credits

There are a wide variety of GHG programs that include CMM projects as emission reductions and thus provide some guidance on CMM GHG accounting. For instance:

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Guidelines for National GHG Inventories by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects
• Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX)
• Greenhouse Gas Services (GHGS)
• The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS)
• California Climate Action Registry (CCAR)

The CMM-related guidance provided in these programs ranges in terms of purpose, scope, and specificity. This course draws on all of these resources and provides comprehensive guidance specifically on how to account for and document GHG reductions, project emissions, and emission reductions as a result of displacement of more carbon-intensive energy sources.

This course includes examples, quizzes, and exercises to help you learn and apply the material. A Certificate of Participation is included as part of the course.

A Certificate of Proficiency is available for an additional fee and requires the passing of an exam after completion of the course.

Key concepts covered include:

• GHG standards and programs
• CMM GHG project accounting using CDM, GHGS, and other methodologies
• Defining a CMM project
• Establishing the baseline scenario and selecting relevant GHGs
• Quantifying emissions and removals
• Monitoring, documenting and reporting

Who should take this course:

Anyone with an interest in understanding GHG accounting for CMM projects, in particular project developers, consultants, auditors, program administrators and investors.

Approximate number of working hours to complete: 16-20

Course Developers and Instructors: Raymond C. Pilcher and Charlee A. Boger

Availability: Runs quarterly – January, April, July, October (classes begin on the first of the month)