C-Lock Publications:

Updegraff, K., P. Zimmerman, M. Price and W.J. Capehart. 2005. C-Lock: an online system to standardize the estimation of agricultural carbon sequestration credits. Fuel Processing Technology Special Issue: ACS Symposium on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration. 86:1695-1704.

Abstract

C-Lock (patent pending) is a system that has been designed to produce standardized carbon emission reduction credits (CERCs) that minimize litigation risks to purchasers and maximize the potential value to agricultural producers. C-Lock provides a web-based user interface linking producer-supplied, verifiable, management data, a detailed regional-scale GIS, and a biogeochemical model (CENTURY). Output includes historical incremental carbon sequestration since 1990 and predictions of future sequestration, packaged to satisfy evolving regulatory standards. C-Lock incorporates a unique uncertainty analysis and a three-level verification system to produce certified CERCs for specific land parcels in a way that is reproducible, equitable, and regionally defensible.

Using a South Dakota farm as an example, the authors show how, by avoiding reliance on field sampling, this system can minimize measurement and monitoring costs. It allows individual producers a high degree of control over contract design and marketing, thereby reducing transaction costs. The transparent, standardized, and auditable procedure produces CERCs of maximum value to those seeking emission offsets.

Zimmerman, P., M. Price, C. Peng, W.J. Capehart, K. Updegraff, P. Kozak, L. Vierling, E. Baker, F. Kopp, G. Duke and C. Das. 2005. C-Lock (patent pending): a system for estimating and certifying carbon emission reduction credits for the sequestration of soil carbon on agricultural land. Mitigation and Adaptation. Strategies for Global Change 10:307-331.

Abstract

The C-Lock system was developed to address the need for an improved method of quantifying and certifying project-level carbon emission reduction credits (CERC). It was designed to enable individual landowners to efficiently quantify, certify, pool, market and trade CERCs generated by agricultural management practices. We provide a general overview of the C-Lock system as it has been implemented for the USA State of South Dakota. C-Lock is comprised of four linked components: a web interface, a client database, a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of soil, climate and generalized land use history parameters, and the CENTURY soil carbon model. The user-friendly interface elicits generalized land-use and crop history information from the client from 1900 through 1989, then explicit annual information from 1990 onward. A climate-zone level landuse and crop management database is used to fill in gaps in the client-provided data. These data are used to drive the CENTURY model, which estimates annual changes in soil carbon stocks. Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate uncertainty bounds, and these are applied to the CENTURY outputs in order to provide probabilistic estimates of accrued CERCs in a manner that is transparent and verifiable. In a demonstration application, CERCs are estimated for three different land-use scenarios on a representative field in eastern South Dakota: reduced tillage or conservation (no-till) management of a corn (maize)/wheat/soybean rotation, and enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program, which entails establishing permanent grass cover. The credits are based on a business-as usual scenario of conventional tillage.

Zimmerman, P.R., K. Updegraff W.J. Capehart, M. Price and L.A. Vierling. 2005. C-Lock: a method to maximize carbon sequestration value to agro-forestry producers and purchasers. In GreenTradingT M Markets: Developing the Second Wave. Ed. P.C. Fusaro and M. Yuen. Green Trading Inc., NY. p. 131–150.

Introduction

C-Lock is a Web-based carbon sequestration accounting and marketing tool. The C-Lock process allows agricultural producers to quantify the impact of specific land-use management practices for specific agricultural land parcels on the sequestration of carbon in soil and vegetation. It also aggregates carbon emission reduction offsets for individual land parcels into units that can be efficiently marketed. This comprehensive tool has been designed to serve as an interface to link agricultural producers, carbon sequestration science and policy, and those who wish to purchase carbon emission reduction offsets. As its most tangible output, C-Lock produces Carbon Emission Reduction Credits (CERCs) that are transparent, validated, and readily verified by an independent third party.