39740.5. (a) The Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with relevant state agencies and in consultation with diverse stakeholders, may create an application process for applicants to have their projects located in the state listed on the registry. The Natural Resources Agency shall ensure that projects submitted pursuant to the application process meet the following minimum criteria before listing them on the registry:
(1) Achieve greenhouse gas reduction or carbon removal.
(2) Include monitoring and reporting of carbon removal benefits over time.
(3) Improve the state’s resilience to climate change.
(4) Project documentation contains all of the following information:
(A) The amount of greenhouse gases reduced or carbon sequestered by the proposed project.
(B) The duration for which the project will sequester carbon.
(C) The location of the proposed project in California.
(D) The natural and working landscape type on which the project will occur.
(E) The project benefits, including, but not limited to, adaptation to sea level rise, fire, heat, and drought, biodiversity benefits, water security and watershed restoration benefits, and benefits to disadvantaged and low-income communities.
(F) Whether the proposed project provides greenhouse gas reduction or carbon removal benefits that are real, verifiable, quantifiable, additional, and permanent. This determination shall be verified by a third party accredited by the state board.
(b) A monitoring and reporting system for calculating carbon removal or sequestration or greenhouse gas emission reduction benefits that has already been established by the state board for purposes of receiving state funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund shall be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).
(c) The Natural Resources Agency shall prioritize the registration of projects that use the latest version of a quantification methodology developed by the state board, where applicable, or an equivalent methodology, approved by the state board.
(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 237, Sec. 1. (SB 27) Effective January 1, 2022.)
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