I've seen a couple of incorrect and misleading news reports about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed last night at this conference. I want to comment on this rumor since it seems to be gaining momentum. These reports claim that the MOU would allow international forest offsets to be used to meet compliance obligations under California's AB32 program.
I've got a copy of the MOU and that is absolutely untrue. The MOU generally commits the signatories to coordinate efforts and promote collaboration with the goal of reducing deforestation and increasing sequestration of forest carbon. As part of that effort, the parties have agreed to collaborate on the development of rules to ensure that forest projects are real, measureable, verifiable, and permanent at the same level of stringency as required by the California Air Resources Board.
There is no agreement that such reductions will be accepted under AB32 nor could there be. The California Air Resources Board is currently managing an extensive multi-year public process to implement AB32. Any and all decisions about how entities will comply with their emission reduction obligations will be made through that public process.