Method Ideas and Expression of Interest

Projects established under the BidCarbon Standard Scheme need to use methods approved by the Board of Trustees. These contain the detailed rules for implementing and monitoring specific abatement activities and generating carbon credits under the scheme.

methods may be developed by private applicants and industry associations as well as government agencies.

An expert committee, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), has been set up to assess offset methods and advise the Chairman of the Board of Trustees on whether they are effective. The TAC ensures that methods are reliable and lead to real change.

As part of its assessment, the TAC publishes proposed methods on this website for public comment. Any comments submitted will be considered by the TAC in making its recommendations to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

For a current list of methods available for use and the status of various method proposals please refer to the following sections of this website:

For all approved methods, please refer to the method determinations page.

The development of new BidCarbon Standard Scheme methods follows a five-step process:

1、Registering your new method idea.

2、Submitting an EOI for a new method or method variation.

3、Developing the method or method variation.

4、Public consultation on the method or method variation.

5、Finalising the method.

Overview

The BidCarbon Foundation is collaborating with industry partners to develop offset methods with broad applicability.

This work is being progressed through a number of method work streams, including:

● reforestation

● landfill gas recovery

● manure management

● management of methane from livestock, and

● soil carbon and biochar.

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is comprised of expert and practitioner representatives who will review current scientific knowledge, determine any additional research requirements, and finalize methods under each work stream. These methods will be rolled out progressively.

Should you wish to register a method idea, you are invited to do so with the Technical Advisory Committee. The Committee will then register your idea on the Method Development Tracker.

Method ideas will be published on the Method Development Tracker, enabling transparency of:

● ideas considered

● potential opportunities to collaborate on a possible future method

● which ideas were progressed to becoming methods, and their progress.

The publication of ideas enables all stakeholders to gain an understanding of the methods that are being proposed and to collaborate on the development of these methods. We encourage proponents to list their ideas on the Method Development Tracker and to collaborate on the development of these methods. If the TAC receives similar Expressions of Interest (EOIs), you may be invited to resubmit a joint EOI.

Should stakeholders have previously submitted ideas or proposals to us prior to the opening of the call for submissions under the new proponent-led method development process, the TAC will be in contact with these stakeholders to discuss the process for progressing their proposals.

Registering your new method idea

An EOI requires more information on the method proposal, including detail on the activities the proposed method would cover and how it will align with the Offsets Integrity Standards. To submit your EOI, please use the EOI template and guidelines.

EOIs will need to show how the proposed method meets triage criteria. The TAC will use the triage criteria to inform their recommendations to the Minister about which EOIs should be prioritised for method development.

The primary triage criteria are:

● scale of abatement – how much abatement would the proposed method unlock.

● proposal complexity.

The secondary triage criteria are:

● whether the proposal incentivises innovation.

● whether the proposal will generate social, environmental, economic or cultural co-benefits.

● whether the proposal has any potential adverse impacts.

Additional detail on the triage criteria is available in the guidelines on submitting an EOI.

We encourage you to collaborate and engage with potential users of your proposed method in developing an EOI. The Method Development Tracker can assist you in identifying opportunities for collaboration.

The TAC will announce the opening and closing dates for each round of EOIs.

The TAC’s assessment of EOIs will be published on the Method Development Tracker and the TAC will provide feedback on all successful and unsuccessful EOIs. Unsuccessful EOIs can be re-submitted in the future.

Submitting an expression of interest (EOI)

Once an EOI has been prioritised by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the method development process commences. The TAC will provide guidance throughout this process, which will typically entail:

● working and consulting with other stakeholders.

● collating the evidence needed to support the method’s abatement activities and calculations. This may involve undertaking further research.

● drafting the abatement calculations for the activities under the method.

● developing any tools or supporting software to support implementation of the method, such as abatement calculations (where applicable).

● drafting a simple method guide to support users of the method if made.

At various checkpoints throughout the process, the TAC will assess your draft method against the Offsets Integrity Standards.

TAC must publish draft methods sfor public consultation before recommending them to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Developing method

The TAC of the BidCarbon Foundation may periodically review method determinations and, if necessary, make amendments in consultation with the original applicant. Additionally, interested parties may submit an application to vary a method determination.

If a method determination is varied or revoked during a crediting period for a project, the new or varied method determination will apply from commencement of the next crediting period. A project proponent can nominate to use the amended method during the current crediting period, but is not required to do so.

Should you wish to vary a method determination, you are invited to submit your application to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) using the approved template. Further details can be found on the Application to change a method determination page.

Submitting an application to vary a method determination

Making submissions on methods open for public comment

Submissions on proposed methods with the status open for public comment are invited for a period of 14 or 28 days from publication.

All comments must be submitted via the Online Message System to the TAC. Comments should include any concerns about the proposed activity and whether it should be included in the negative list. All comments will be provided to the method applicant and published on this website unless they have been provided in confidence.

It is important to note that the publication of a method proposal for public comment does not indicate that the proposal is compliant with the Offsets Integrity Standards, that it will be endorsed by the Technical Advisory Committee (the TAC), or that it will be made into a method determination by the Chair of the Board of Trustees. Proposals may need substantial revision before being endorsed by the TAC.

A method proposal that is open for public comment cannot be relied upon for planning an offsets project. There is no guarantee that it will be made into a method determination by the Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Should the Chairman of the Board of Trustees decide to approve the method, it will be included on the method determinations page, ready for use by project proponents.

Method assessment process