Forest climate standard goes into public consulation with version 1.0 as a draft 

With the presentation at the Forest Climate Conference, eva opens the draft v1.0 to the interested public in a public consultation: This standard forms the basis for various methods that follow eva's accreditation guideline, in particular the forest restoration and forst adaptation methods. The standard was open for public consultation from June 26 to July 24, 2023.

With this public consultation, eva is also presenting the accreditation guideline: Methods are designed according to a standardized process along this guideline to ensure their quality. Both the existing Forest Restoration method and the Forest Restoration method currently being developed together with Pina Earth and the Wald-Klimarat follow eva's accreditation guideline.

The forst adaptation method involves the conversion of pure stands into structurally diverse mixed forests. In accordance with the guideline, a quality check is planned for the fall so that a pilot phase for this method can begin in late fall after approval by the Technical Committee.

"Trial makes perfect" - both the standard and the online platforms stand up to the practical test

Rüdiger Meyer is responsible for the first pilot phase and provides an insight into the learning successes: "In the pilot phase, we were not yet interested in generating a large number of certificates, but rather wanted to subject the technology and process to a reality check - we succeeded in doing this and were able to implement the necessary adjustments." The open projects from the pilot phase are currently being certified until fall 2023, meaning that a total of around 75,000 eva certificates can be expected from this initial phase. The projects cover all different types of ownership in almost all federal states.

In a panel discussion, the pilot partners Jan Müller-Thomsen from Oldershausen HOFOS GmbH and Christian Stuhlmann from Waldkonzepte PartG as the first users, as well as the certifier responsible for the pilot phase, TÜV Nord, represented by Carl-Luis Weiss, shared their experiences.

Christian Stuhlmann, who has been involved in the pilot phase from the very beginning, is satisfied with the user-friendliness of the platform and takes away the fears of future users: "The dynamic development of the platform has been great - that was also the requirement for this phase. It's possible that not everyone will be able to use the platform straight away - a certain amount of prior knowledge is required. But in this case, there are forestry service providers, for example, who can be deployed as project managers and can actively support smaller private forest owners, for example."

Jan Müller-Thomsen, who took over the pilot project from Dirk Neuenstein, emphasized the support he received from the eva project team: "I see myself as a digital native and got on well with the logical structure of the platform. Some processes, such as uploads, did not run smoothly, but that was to be expected with a newly developed technology. The eva team was on hand with help and advice and also accepted and implemented suggestions for the design of the platform."

Carl-Luis Weiss also praises the advantage of the digital certification process : "For me as a certifier, digital certification is a huge step forward. The certification is carried out and completed on the computer, no separate report is required. I also always have the relevant extract from the standard directly available for all my entries. And, of course, the platform's offline function is a big advantage for the audit on the project site." For a smooth audit, he advises users: "Prepare the audits properly, provide as much information as possible at the beginning - then the audit will run through quickly."

Rüdiger Meyer sums up how valuable the pilot phase and the commitment of the pilot partners and TÜV were: "The fact that everyone remained so constructive and consistent during the pilot phase enabled us to develop a high-quality product. And that is the prerequisite for surviving on the market. The commitment of everyone involved goes far beyond the regular field of activity: without this commitment, we would not be as far as we are now with eva and the forest climate standard."

"With high-quality certificates for the voluntary market, eva addresses the high level of buyer interest in a product from Germany." 

In an update on the market, Rüdiger Meyer provides an insight into the voluntary carbon market in Germany and outlines the motivation of companies to purchase eva certificates.

A panel discussion with Helena Scholz, Climate Partner, and Rudolf Maier, Callirius AG, underlined the relevance of and need for high-quality and exclusive eva certificates as a component of certificate portfolios. Rudolf Maier emphasizes the rethinking of buyers: "With the current critical reporting, companies have become more cautious and regional projects are increasingly being sought. The local forest climate standard responds to this demand with its small, sharply regional projects. Companies are no longer only concerned with the ton of CO2, but with all the co-benefits: companies are giving more thought to this." Helena Scholz adds to the aspect of regional traceability of the certificates : "The driver is both the direct link to the regional projects and the emotion - which is particularly important in the DACH countries: companies want to generate a regional impact and give something back to nature locally. This commitment can then be shown to customers transparently and in detail."

For the near future, Rüdiger Meyer sees opportunities to support project developers and CO2 traders in marketing projects with eva: "We are ready to equip the eva Impact Registry with additional features for effective marketing and we are preparing supporting information material. And of course we offer to accompany sales talks with companies."

Professional exchange at eye level in three workshops

In the afternoon, the guests discussed the current draft v1.0 of the forest climate standard in two workshop sessions, the forst adaptation method together with Pina Earth and took a deep dive into the eva certification process on the platform with the eva project team.

The Forest Climate Council conference opens as a "Forest Climate Conference"

The Ecosystem Value Association deliberately opened up its format to a larger group of participants at the 5th Forest Climate Council Conference in Blankenburg in October 2022. The aim is to bring together all players in the developing ecosystem services market in Germany.

With the renaming in Berlin on June 22, 2023 from the "Conference of the German Forest Climate Council" to the "Forest Climate Conference", eva is underlining this focus. In the evening, numerous guests from politics, the market and forestry gathered at the reception on the occasion of the Forest Climate Conference to exchange ideas with the IPCC and the eva team.

Alexander Zeihe, Spokesman of the Board of the Ecosystem Value Association, thanked the members of the Forest Climate Council, the Technical Committee and all network partners for their persistent, constructive and enriching commitment.