The Alaska Senate unanimously passed Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s bill to advance a carbon market in Alaska. SB 48, if passed by the House, would allow his administration to participate in the evolving carbon market.
SB 48 and its companion bill HB 49 establish a statewide carbon offset program through forest sequestration within the Department of Natural Resources. The proposed carbon offset program has the potential to generate additional revenue for the State of Alaska through biologic carbon storage projects that can offset a portion of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.
The carbon offset program bill seeks to grant DNR the ability to establish a carbon offset program and enable carbon offset projects on state lands that are not going to be used of forestry anyway.
It’s novel, but not an entirely new concept in Alaska. In 2018, Sealaska Corp. launched a carbon-offset project that was the first in Alaska to take part in California’s cap-and-trade program. The project contributed to Sealaska’s biggest net income year on record.
Current statutes do not allow for carbon offset projects. The carbon offset program will allow private parties to lease state land to undertake carbon offset programs and allow the State, through DNR, to implement its own carbon offset projects, the governor’s office said.
Greenpeace called the carbon trading programs a scam.
“Since the oil industry — Shell, Chevron, and others — were not prepared to actually slow oil production to halt global heating, and since they had no intention of aiming for zero carbon emissions, they invented ‘net zero.’ The ‘net’ requires that we subtract some carbon from total emissions to create the illusion of “zero” emissions. Thus, the patriarchs of petroleum profiteering came up with ‘carbon capture,’ a deception that has netted them billions of dollars and euros in public money,” Greenpeace said.
But Global Market Insights says carbon credits are a growing market, sanctioned by governments across the world.
“Carbon capture and storage market exceeded $6 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand at more than 20% from 2023 to 2032,” the company reported.
“A steady rollout of strict government regulations to reduce GHG emissions worldwide is set to positively shape the industry scenario. For instance, in May 2022, the U.S. government invested $2.3 billion to cut carbon pollution in the country. Such proactive emission control initiatives are creating a strong impetus for innovations in the field of carbon capture technologies,” GMI said in its January report.
