Dear Stakeholders,
Our June full-group meeting marked the beginning of a new era for BCarbon! At this month’s session, our new CEO Eric Unverzagt introduced himself to the group and talked about his vision for the future of our organization. Eric outlined his plans to build on the scientific rigor of our protocols while shifting more attention to credit buyers and market expectations. He emphasized that we will retain the strength of our research output while building out the business side of the organization, including education and outreach efforts to increase public awareness of our work. BCarbon’s founder, Jim Blackburn, joined Eric to share more about this transition and his continued role as Chairman of the BCarbon Board moving forward.
Jim’s vision, passion, and leadership over the last 5+ years have truly built our organization from the ground up. As we move into this new chapter, we remain thankful for Jim’s work, and we’re so pleased to welcome Eric to the team to guide our organization into the next phase. We are glad that many of you had a chance to meet Eric during last week’s call. For those that haven’t yet, there will be many opportunities to do so in the coming months.
Following Eric's introduction, we shared results from our recent stakeholder survey, which received 54 responses from our approximately 800-member stakeholder list. While this 7% response rate may not reflect the overall stakeholder group, it provides valuable insights from our most engaged participants. Most respondents are in Texas, work directly in the carbon market or in tangential roles, and regularly attend stakeholder meetings. The survey revealed representation from diverse sectors, with business and industry comprising 50% of respondents, followed by nonprofits at 17%. Encouragingly, 82% of respondents are satisfied or highly satisfied with stakeholder meetings, though they recommended increased communication about project status and research, greater focus on market engagement, and opportunities for in-person networking. We discussed areas of improvement to our stakeholder practices that BCarbon will implement in the coming months based on these findings. Thank you to all who contributed your feedback! Please read on for more information on next steps and other opportunities to share your perspectives with our team.
We then provided updates on several active subcommittees who have convened since our last full-group meeting in April. The Soil Subcommittee has been working on updates to the Soil Carbon Protocol to clarify ambiguities, add requirements based on research and experience, improve rigor, and provide more flexibility to BCarbon. After meeting on May 22 and soliciting stakeholder feedback, the team is now working through comments to finalize revisions, with several further edits planned for this summer covering Equivalent Soil Mass approaches, quantification of change over time, and additionality.
Our Biodiversity Subcommittee met on June 5 to discuss the draft BCarbon Biodiversity Methodology, a species survey-based quantification system that can be implemented standalone or in conjunction with carbon projects. The methodology is designed to incentivize carbon projects in species-rich areas and boost credit value, though it is not intended for offsetting or crediting purposes. The methodology will undergo another round of edits before being shared with the full Stakeholder Working Group.
The Market Subcommittee met on May 7 to discuss BCarbon's potential pursuit of both ICVCM approval and a "Texas Standard" state-level certification. The group favors pursuing both pathways, recognizing that ICVCM/CCP approval would provide access to broader markets. Beyond formal certification, the subcommittee emphasized that supporting brand elevation and documentation of alignment efforts will help Project Developers in the near term, though the path to ICVCM approval will require major changes in areas including additionality.
We also provided updates on our Methane Well Plugging Protocol. With ACR recently pulling their protocol from market until at least 2026, BCarbon and CarbonPath are currently the only active protocols for orphaned and abandoned wells. We believe our methodology is the strongest available and are being more proactive in communicating its advantages.
Chairman of the Board Jim Blackburn presented on BCarbon's work in Mexico, where he and Chris Ordoñez, Nature-based Solutions Engineering Consultant for Rice University, are developing a forest carbon protocol for cloud forests in the state of Tamaulipas. These ecosystems face considerable threats from illegal deforestation, and Chris’s team is working to create a methodology for generating credits to protect these habitats. In late May, Jim and Chris presented their work at a conference in Monterrey, where they worked to reinforce the connections with key partners in Mexico.
We concluded with market and policy updates, including progress on Paris Agreement Article 6.4 standards, which recently introduced more conservative baseline projections and made progress on consultation processes for benefit sharing with host countries. Looking ahead to this fall’s COP30 in Belem, Brazil, we discussed the key goals of the conference. These include accelerating implementation of the Paris Accords and developing a roadmap to achieving $1.3 trillion in climate finance flows to developing countries by 2035. We also highlighted some of the interesting findings from Patch’s recent report, The hidden state of the Voluntary Carbon Market.
You can view the full slideshow from the meeting here:
Stakeholder Survey phase two: getting to know you
Thanks again to everyone who submitted responses to February’s stakeholder survey, which we recapped in this full-group meeting. Now, we are launching into the second phase of our initiative to better understand and respond to the needs of our stakeholders. While part one attempted to solicit anonymous feedback to improve BCarbon’s stakeholder experience overall, part two aims to get to know you better and ensure everyone has the ability to fully engage with our work.
To share your perspective, please follow this link: https://forms.office.com/r/ZfEKNRnh1Y. The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete.
Upcoming Meetings:
Full-group meetings: second Thursday of September (9/11) and November (11/13), 9 AM CT
Additionality Subcommittee: June 26, 1 PM CT
Living Shorelines Subcommittee: July 9, 3 PM CT
To be added to any meeting, please contact Sarah (Sarah.Swackhamer@BCarbon.org)
All meetings held via Zoom.
Thank you for your continued engagement with and support of our work. As we move forward under Eric's leadership, we remain committed to maintaining our scientific rigor while enhancing our market responsiveness. If you have questions, comments, ideas, or concerns, please feel free to reach out.
Best,
BCarbon