Georgia is the first state in the nation to create a CO2 register program that rewarded sustainable building practices with CO2 loans, with the goals of increasing both the environment and the economy of the state equally.
While only a construction project has been put into the register since the beginning of the program, those who helped with the start of the program will confidently use the program that will soon be using further developments in the Peach State.
The carbon sequestration register of Georgia, which was first developed in 2008, was originally developed to help land owners certify the carbon stored in their forests. However, when Georgia grew quickly, the legislators saw the opportunity to expand the effects of the register and change them in order to enable financial incentives to build developments with mass wood.
In 2021, legislation passed the Georgia Forestry Commission for a year to write the protocol for the changed carbon register. The legislation required that a committee for eight people with a variety of specialist knowledge would write the protocol, including an architect, a specialist for evaluating the life cycle, a developer, a professor of engineering and professor of forestry.
“The expansion became really logical,” said Rep. Todd Jones (R-25), who was instrumental in creating the change application. “We want not only to promote this industry, but also encourage this industry in the products that they create in terms of expanding buildings and constructions in our state. The natural, logical way of expanding it into the register.”
Because of his background, which worked on the carbon market, Jones was decisive, which means that companies can compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon loans – a certificate that can be traded and a tonne CO₂ equivalent that has been avoided or removed from the atmosphere.
In the early 2000s, before becoming legislator, Jones was involved in a variety of different programs for renewable energies and CO2 reduction in developing countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico.
“I literally acted hundreds of millions of offsets around the world years ago,” said Jones. “It turned out to be very successful … and it was definitely a good understanding that there is 100% the ability to do good (environmentally representative) and (economically) well to do.”
In order to register a construction project in the register of the carbon sequestration of Georgia, the building must be built in Georgia after January 1, 2021, use sustainable building materials and compared to the starting basis defined by the protocol according to the protocol that was written by the sustainable building material advisory committee according to the legislation.
So far, only one building has been registered, 619 Ponce in Atlanta, which was built by Jamestown LP
“As Georgia's first mass wood built in Georgia, which was built with a regional supply chain, 619 Ponce had already comprehensive work to assess and quantify his CO2 advantages,” said Troy Harris, managing director of Timberland and innovative wood products and one of the eight members of the committee who wrote the protocol. “In our case, the main incentive was a measured opportunity to tell the unique history of the building and to emphasize the sustainability aspects of development.”
Since Jamestown 619 Ponce has registered, Georgia Forestry Foundation has introduced an acceleration program that offers developers that research mass wood, offers financial and technical support, which, according to Harris, could be helpful for others who are pursuing similar initiatives.
“The register helps us to convey our efforts to reduce carbon through consistent protocols of the state and ensure that developers uniformly calculate their carbon advantages.” Said Harris. “With the Carbon Register in Georgia supported by the state, developers are kept consistent in the exhibition of credits.
However, the Georgia Forestry Commission is confident that there will be more participants.
“We have completed one and several in the construction system that are interested in participating,” said Devon Dartnell, director of Forestry Services of Georgia Forestry Commission, and the man who was commissioned to head the committee to write the minutes for the carbon register. “We are active, the registration is open and we deal with potential participants and inform you about the protocol.”
For example, the mandatory regional airport in Middle Georgia, which is built from mass wood, would be entitled.
Will other Georgia's idea copy?
Dartnell said that other states had turned to him and asked about the minutes and the information about the minutes and that he would be happy to report.
“It's not a competitive thing,” said Dartnell. “We are not trying to beat other states. We are happy to share it. It is a positive thing for everyone in the value chain from Forest Products, from the wooden landowners to the mills. And it is a good cause for the environment, the fact that these sustainable buildings are neutral than our conventional steel and concrete buildings.”
Jamestown LP has development projects across the country and in the world and hope that further protocols will be taken over in other places.
“We not only see this as the definition of the benchmark in Georgia, but we are also confident that similar protocols are accepted by other countries in order to promote a broader introduction and standardization of the industry,” said Dartnell.
How does the registration work?
The protocol was completed in January 2022 and focused on awarded credits based on two main components: embedded and embodied carbon.
Credits are awarded for embedded carbon, based on how many tons of carbon are stored in this building by eligible building materials such as mass wood. For example, if a building with mass wood is built instead of concrete and steel, it qualifies, it is qualified and the amount of carbon stored in the wood is measured.
For each metric tonne carbon stored in the wood, a loan is given, which is assumed that it stays in the building for at least 100 years, since according to Dartnell, most of the commercial buildings take so long or longer.
“For example, if a mass of mass wood is built for the construction instead of concrete with steel yields and things, they are justified,” said Dartnell. “Then we measure the amount of carbon that is stored in this wood. A carbon loan is awarded for a lot of carbon stored in the wood, which is assumed that it remains for at least the life of the building in this building, which takes at least 100 years, since most of the commercial buildings take over 100 years. And the history shows that the wooden building made of wood is made of wood became.” “And the story shows that commercial buildings made of wood built longer than permanent than that.”
Another factor that contained weight when allocating embedded carbon loans such as large wooden elements such as CLT walls and glulam rays at the end of the life of the original building can be dismantled and reused, which means that the carbon is probably kept out of the atmosphere for several centuries, said Dartnell.
The credits for embodied carbon are based on the amount of avoided emissions by using wood in contrast to other building materials.
By making steel or cement, raw materials are broken down, transported and large amounts of energy are used to process them that generate all significant emissions. These emissions are avoided by using wood.
“All of these emissions are avoided by using a tree that grows itself,” said Dartnell. “We add the emissions, which are connected to the amount of emissions connected to the transport of the raw material into the factory with the extraction of the iron ore or the limestone stone.
In order to measure this, there are several validated instruments such as life cycle rating instruments that were approved by the Georgia Forestry Commission, which, according to Dartnell, provide the developers the emissions saved in every phase for quantification.
Jones said they wanted to assure the loans to be of high quality and trustworthy, so that clear rules were determined.
First, they needed a solid baseline that is the estimated level of emission that would have occurred without the project. This is important because you can only say to reduce emissions if it is lowered under what would have happened without the project.
Secondly, they needed an additional threshold, which means that projects want to progress due to the financial incentive by selling CO2 crazy things. If the project had happened anyway without this financial incentive, it does not count for a credit.
Essentially, this is a way to measure the real effects of a project that goes beyond what would have happened, of course
Finally, they wanted to make sure that the projects were delivered with real co-benefits apart from marketing components.
They also needed both the validation, a review before the project begins and a review, a review of the project of independent third parties, said Jones.
According to Jones, Jones was confident of concentrating on these things and was confident that it was a high-quality, respected carbon offset program.
“We didn't want to do something where people would say:” It sounds good, but it's really just smoke and mirror, “said Jones.” We wanted to make sure that we set up a register that people – third parties, people outside the country, people in the country – say that this is the highest CO2 offset of the highest quality in which they may be able to invest. “