This service was developed together with EcoSecurities Ltd., a firm specialising in policy and environmental technologies and finance. The carbon offset verification service consists of a formal analysis of project concept and design, a risk and uncertainty analysis, ongoing monitoring of project implementation and verification, and the quantification and certification of projected and achieved emission reductions. The service is available to both buyers and sellers of carbon offsets, and is also relevant to GHG regulatory bodies and other interested parties. SGS views the offering of this service as being a risk management tool for all parties in this emerging field. Even when direct measurements of carbon pools can be made, they usually represent small samples in space and time.
Carbon flows likely to be relevant to a monitoring program for the forestry carbon offset project.
Photosynthesis and foliage respiration estimates are also difficult to obtain due to the challenge of controlling the environmental conditions in field allometry. In addition, accurate carbon allocation to root biomass density measurements require destructive sampling methods. Even when direct measurements of the carbon pools and fluxes can be made, they usually represent small samples in space and time. For large-area estimates of carbon pools in forest ecosystems, potentially significant errors are introduced when trying to extrapolate point measurements to local and regional scales. The SGS methodology is currently based upon extensive and permanent sampling plots, field measurements and Forestry Commission and other published yield tables.