The California Air Resources Board is developing a policy statement for companies that plan to voluntarily quantify “early actions” to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The policy is set to cover greenhouse gas emitters’ reduction plans that precede specific requirements under AB 32, the state’s landmark climate change law. Agency staff plans to submit the statement to its board for adoption in February. The policy statement and request for suggested quantification protocols are expected to stop short of specifying how the Air Board would grant regulatory credit for voluntary early actions. It also is expected to be silent on whether the credits could be traded in a carbon market. Instead, in response to repeated questions about those issues from the standing room only audience at a meeting, Air Board climate change program evaluation branch chief Kevin Kennedy stressed those matters would be addressed in the later AB 32 blueprint--also known as a scoping plan. The policy statement intent, according to Kennedy, “is if you can get greenhouse gas reductions, do it now.” Speaking in Oakland January 16 at one of a series of Air Board meetings aimed at developing a plan to carry out AB 32, Kennedy said the statement will be “short and to the point.” Originally, Kennedy hoped to have a draft of the statement ready to distribute at the meeting, but said it was taking longer than initially planned. In conjunction with the statement, he said, the Air Board plans to issue a call for companies to suggest protocols, or methodologies, for quantifying emissions reductions from particular voluntary projects by March. He said to look for the announcement of the request late this month or early February. Air Board staff went on to lay out myriad issues involved in developing and selecting regulatory and policy mechanisms for rolling back the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to their 1990 levels. However, the staff revealed no specific policy preferences or proposals. “We’re not there yet,” said Chuck Shulock, Air Board assistant executive officer. One reason, he said, is that the Air Board has been busy “building the capacity to deal with these issues,” including hiring staff with needed expertise and getting contracts in place to conduct economic modeling of various policy options. Shulock pointed out that the various meetings on the scoping plan are aimed at assuring the document is developed in a transparent way. “We have a long history of running open processes,” he said. Editors’ note: For a more detailed version of this story, please see our sister publication E=MC2 – Energy Meets Climate Challenge. You can find it at www.energymeetsclimate.com.