Gov. On Thursday, Mike Dunleavy unveiled his Carbon Management Bill Package.
The bill, when it is introduced to the legislature will set out new regulations that will allow the state to enter growing carbon markets. Dunleavy thinks it could generate millions to billions of dollars in new revenue for the state.
span style=”font weight: 400 Alaska has a real potential for monetized and capitalized on the discussions about carbon,” Dunleavy stated in a Thursday press conference.
The most common greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Carbon resources are increasingly being traded and offsets, or credits, to increase their storage. This has led to a growing market. These carbon resources can be purchased or sold by companies and other entities to meet regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions, or to achieve voluntary emission goals.
Dunleavy believes there is a lot of potential for expanding the carbon market in Alaska.
He said, “The question is of course what types, what type, and how much money Alaska could achieve in this process.”
This legislation would allow the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to promote sequestration and carbon management.
Trees, soil and kelp naturally capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
It is also possible to compress carbon, and then pump it underground. This process is sometimes known as carbon capture utilization and storage (or CCUS). Dunleavy plans to do that in the North Slope and Cook Inlet oil and gas basins.
Since years, Alaska Native regional corporations such as Sealaska, Chugach Alaska Corporation and Ahtna Inc. participate in carbon markets by turning sustainably managed forests to carbon credits. These credits were sold to companies outside of the state, particularly California where they are used to meet state cap-and trade requirements.
Native corporations have received $370 million since 2019, Dunleavy said. This is a proof of the new bill’s concept.
Dunleavy claims that the new legislation will not affect existing industries, such as oil and gas and logging, which are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Although the legislation addresses one of the most significant greenhouse gases, Matthew Jackson, Southeast Conservation Council’s climate program manager, said that it is not a climate policy.
Jackson stated that it’s more a financial tool rather than a solution to climate change. Jackson said that if this is a way for Alaska to make more money from the things it already does, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, it has nothing to do the solving of the climate crisis .”
The bill is expected to be introduced informally sometime after the session ends on January 17.
