Written by Royal Gardner, Professor of Law, Director of Center for Biodiversity and Law, Stetson University

1. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
What is Environmental Credit Stacking?
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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2. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
The Crux of Stacking
Can you get paid twice for the same conservation action?
• Drive to maximize Economic Returns
• Concern over Ecological Validation
• Development of Policy
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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3. Perspectives and Responsibilities
Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
• Agencies: Regulatory agencies need to ensure that the credits
appropriately offset impacts. This can be challenging even in one
market type. When credits are stacked the question of
“additionality” becomes even more prominent.
• Landowners: Shouldn’t credit producers expect to be
compensated for the range of environmental benefits they
support?
• Project Managers: Even in the absence of clear direction from
agencies and standard protocols, pilot projects are proceeding to
test the possibilities of credit stacking.
• Ecosystems: Credits represent mitigation. When credits are
stacked, so are the risks to the ecosystem if credits fail.
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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4. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Stacking scenarios:
Wetlands and endangered species
• Van Vleck Ranch Mitigation Bank (CA)
– Wetland and vernal pool fairy shrimp credits
Source: Westervelt Ecological Services
http://www.wesmitigation.com/mitigation-conservation-projects/van-vleck-ranchmitigation-bank.cfm#page=photos
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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5. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Stacking scenarios:
Wetlands and water quality
• Neu-Con Umbrella Wetland Mitigation and Stream
Restoration Bank (NC)
– Wetland and nutrient offset credits
Source: North Carolina State University
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~grhess/PhotoOfTheMonth/archive/
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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6. Stacking scenarios:
Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Wetland functions
• Spellbottom Mitigation Bank (TX)
– Temporary Storage of Surface
Water (TSSW)
– Maintenance of Plant and Animal
Communities (MPAC)
– Removal and Sequestration of
Elements and Compounds
(RSEC)
Source: Mitigation Solutions USA
http://www.msusa.com/banks/texas/SpellbottomMitigati
onBank_Map.html
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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7. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Stacking scenarios:
Multiple species (federal)
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8. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Stacking scenarios:
Multiple species (federal and state)
• Lyonia Preserve (FL)
Source: Volusia County Florida
www.volusia.org
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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9. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Stacking scenarios:
Endangered species and carbon
• Florida Panther Conservation
Bank
– Panther credits and
reservation of right to seek
carbon credits in the future
Source: The Florida Panther Conservation
http://pantherconservation.com/
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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10. Stacking scenarios: Water Quality
Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Phosphorous and Nitrogen
• Maryland’s (nascent) water quality trading program
Chesapeake Bay
Source: Fairfax County
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/environmental/cbay/
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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11. Accounting Units & Defensible Stacking Scenarios
• Species
• Wetlands
• Carbon
• Water Quality
Bundles of Ecosystem Values
(Acres)
Defined Accounting Units (tons, pounds)
Based on our analysis, the most appropriate credit stacking
scenario is when the accounting units are pollutant-specific,
such as pounds of nitrogen in water quality trading, and tons
of CO2 equivalents in carbon markets.
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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12. Discussion …
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712

13. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Considerations for a Credit Stacking Protocol
“Credit
stacking could provide great economic incentives for
effective conservation, but only after the fundamental considerations
described here are addressed.”
Consideration 1: Ecosystem credits that consist of a suite of
functions should not be stacked and unbundled.
Consideration 2: Stacking and unbundling credits should not result in
habitat loss.
Consideration 3: Managing the site for one credit type should not
denigrate the ecological values represented by other credit types.
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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14. Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
Considerations for a Credit Stacking Protocol
Consideration 4: Regulatory agencies need the resources
and capacity to confirm the ecological validity of the
transactions.
Consideration 5: Any stacking and unbundling of credits
should be transparent.
Consideration 6: Tests for additionality should be applied.
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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15. The Bottom Line on Credit Stacking
Phone: 877-789-2085
Attendee PIN: 7712
• While environmental markets can be flexible to
accommodate social and economic elements such as price,
infrastructure, and mechanics, they need to maintain basic
scientific integrity and defensibility.
• While the perspectives of the buyer, seller, and regulator
are important in these markets, the quality of the credits
needs to be ensured.
• The validity of credit stacking boils down to appropriate
mitigation: do the credits appropriately mitigate the impacts
that they are intended to offset?
© 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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