A Partner in a $70 Million Dollar USDA Climate Smart Commodity Grant calls carbon market projects into question
The CEO of the carbon credit company, Verra, was sacked recently for certifying worthless carbon offsets.
The Cocklebur has linked the discraced carbon certification giant, Verra, with a $70,000,000 federal grant partnership focused on optimizing the “value of climate-smart commodities, focusing on dairy feedstock and including a manure management component.” Verra, the world’s carbon credit certification firm, is going through a management shake-up and scandal.
A nine-month investigation by the Guardian, the German weekly Die Zeit and the investigative group SourceMaterial released in January “found Verra rainforest credits used by Disney, Shell, Gucci and other big corporations were largely worthless, often based on stopping the destruction of rainforests that were not threatened, according to independent studies. It also found evidence of forced evictions at a flagship scheme co-operated by Conservation International in Peru,” according to the Guardian.
Verra is participating in this U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded partnership with a variety dairy industry players. Climate pollution from dairy has risen in recent years as the industry has concentrated animals and manure away from pastures into larger confined operations.
The project is one of the cornerstones of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s “Climate Smart Commodities” Initiative. Prior to returning as head of USDA, Vilsack served as an executive for the Dairy Export Council.
Earlier today, Heated released “The mystery of climate-friendly beef,” asking similar questions about the validity of another Climate Smart Commodities Grant. The Heated Q-and-A focused on Tyson Foods and their $70,000,000 beef and livestock feed project.
“Tyson claims that Brazen Beef lowers cattle emissions by 10 percent. That’s a pretty hefty claim. It is possible to lower livestock emissions—the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that improved diet and manure management could cut methane emissions by 30 percent. So naturally, I wanted to know: is Tyson actually lowering their cattle emissions? Or is Brazen Beef a clever marketing scheme that greenwashes a major climate polluter?”
—Heated’s Arielle Samuelson
You can read more about USDA’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities at the agency’s site. This grant program is one of Secretary Vilsack’s signature climate efforts, taking executive action over Republican opposition to create the $3.1 billion program.
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