44475.
A business entity that is marketing or selling voluntary carbon offsets within the state state, on or after January 1, 2025, shall disclose on the business entity’s internet website all of the following information:(a) Details regarding the applicable carbon offset project, including all of the following information:
(1) The specific protocol used to estimate emissions reductions or removal benefits.
(2) The location of the
offset project site.
(3)The project timeline.
(4)The date when the project started or will start.
(5)The dates and quantities when a specified quantity of emissions reductions or removals started or will start, or was modified or reversed.
(3) The project’s crediting period.
(4) The project start date.
(5) The year of issuance, vintage period, and vintage quantity associated with the credits and if there have been any modifications or reversals.
(6) The type of project, including whether the offsets from the project are derived from a carbon removal, an avoided emission, or, in the case of a project with both carbon removals and avoided emissions, the breakdown of offsets from each.
or both. If the offsets are derived from both a carbon removal and an avoided emission, the information shall include the percentage breakdown of offsets from each if provided in the project documentation for offsets issued prior to January 1, 2025, and for all offsets issued after January 1, 2025.
(7) Whether the project meets any standards established by law or by a nonprofit entity.
(8)The durability period for any project that the seller knows or should know that the durability of the project’s greenhouse gas reductions or greenhouse gas removal enhancements is less than the atmospheric lifetime of carbon dioxide emissions.
(8) The durability period over which carbon storage will be monitored, reported, verified, and compensated if reversed, for any project that is credited for carbon storage, including emission reductions and removal enhancements in natural systems and through other carbon removal activities.
(9) Whether there is independent expert or third-party validation or verification of the project attributes. Verification by third parties required by a registry shall constitute independent third-party verification.
(10) Emissions reduced or carbon removed on an annual basis.
(b)Details regarding accountability measures if a project is not completed or does not meet the projected emissions reductions or removal benefits, including, but not limited to, details regarding what actions the entity, either directly or by contractual obligation, shall take under both of the following circumstances:
(1)If carbon storage projects are reversed.
(2)If future emissions reductions do not materialize.
(b) Details regarding accountability measures regarding what actions the entity, either directly or by contractual obligation, shall take if credited carbon storage is reversed.
(c) The pertinent data and calculation methods needed to independently reproduce and verify the number of emissions reduction or removal credits issued using the protocol.
(d) A business entity that markets or resells a voluntary carbon offset within the state that it has not generated may satisfy the requirements of this section by publishing on the business entity’s internet website sufficient information to direct the buyer to the disclosure made by the business entity who generated the voluntary carbon offset
pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive.
(d)
(e) For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Durability” “Durability period” means the duration of time over which an offset project operator commits to maintain its greenhouse gas
reductions and greenhouse gas removal enhancements, as applicable, exclusive of any aspirational outcomes that exceed or extend beyond the mandatory outcomes required of the offset project pursuant to its offset protocol.
(2) “Protocol” means a documented set of procedures and requirements to quantify ongoing greenhouse gas reductions or greenhouse gas removal enhancements achieved by an offset project and to calculate the project baseline, including specification of relevant data collection and monitoring procedures, emission factors, and methodologies used to conservatively account for uncertainty and activity-shifting and market-shifting leakage risks associated with an offset project.
(3) (A) “Voluntary carbon offset” means any product sold or marketed
in the state that claims to be a “greenhouse gas emissions offset,” a “voluntary emissions reduction,” a “retail offset,” or any like term, that connotes that the product represents or corresponds to a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere or that prevents the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that would have otherwise been emitted.
(B) (i)“Voluntary carbon offset” does not include products that represent or correspond to legal or regulatory mandates for either of the following:
(I)
(i) Reduction of the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere.
(II)
(ii) Prevention of the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
(ii)“Voluntary carbon offset” does not include a renewable energy certificate issued through an accounting system of a governmental regulatory body, such as the state board, or a virtual power purchase agreement, of which such a renewable energy certificate corresponds to one unit of electricity that was generated by an eligible renewable energy resource, or a low-carbon fuel standard credit.
(C) “Voluntary carbon offset” does not include a renewable energy certificate (REC), issued through an accounting system of a governmental regulatory body or virtual power purchase agreement, of which the REC corresponds to one unit of electricity that was generated and delivered by an eligible renewable energy resource, or a low-carbon fuel standard credit.