MMV not revealed in Draft Agricultural Soil Credit Standard

MEASUREMENT NOT CONCLUSIVE

Although the detail of the Measurement approach adopted is not given in the draft*, it is described as a mix of “from modeling, assessment and quantification through approved methodologies. Methods of quantification methodology shall be scientifically evaluated, verified, validated and accepted as scientifically valid by a government agency, accredited university, or technical advisory committees of the Agricultural Carbon Board.” The latter is a governing body with stakeholders represented. “Approved methodologies include models, modeling and protocols with validation and verification developed on a foundation of statistically valid sampling representative of the conditions subject to carbon credit.” “The Project Owner or Aggregator shall use an approved quantification methodology to estimate the amount of net primary greenhouse gas change in the soil over time with statistical representation of the credit validated by appropriate direct measurement.”

*Draft Agricultural Soil Credit Standard to be submitted to the US Government by the Iowa and Illinois Corn Growers Associations. Click here for access to a pdf copy of the Draft Standard.

Sec. 302 Validation of quantification methods.
A quantification method shall:
(a) Determine net change in primary greenhouse gases in accordance with prevailing conventions for accuracy, precision of measurement and statistical validity. The quantification methods shall be robust to operate over an appropriate range of soils, cropping practices and environments, and scalable over the scope of the carbon credit. The methodology shall be replicable and thoroughly documented; and
(b) Be validated by an approved domestic or international body, which shall include those
organizations that can demonstrate no conflict of interest and whose work processes are
accredited by appropriate national and/or international accreditation agencies. The methodology for quantification shall conform to prevailing principles of quality management.