CARE Joins Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 19, 2007) - The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) announced today that CARE International has joined its growing list of members, including BP, Weyerhaeuser, SC Johnson, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and Wildlife Conservation Society. The CCBA is made up of top research institutions, corporations and non-profit groups promoting the development of high-quality climate change mitigation projects that also incorporate biodiversity conservation and contribute to sustainable development.

The CCBA spearheaded the development of the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standards, which allow private-sector companies, multi-lateral funding organizations, and government agencies to screen land-based carbon projects and identify those representing the highest-value and least-risk investments. The standards and associated scorecard can be downloaded at www.climate-standards.org.

Tropical deforestation is responsible for almost a quarter of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions - twice the amount coming from all the world's cars and trucks. Forestry projects using the CCB Standards are helping to mitigate this impact-by reducing CO2 emissions through forest conservation activities and by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere through forest restoration activities.

"The CCB Standards are a unique tool for helping project developers realize the ambitious goal of simultaneously mitigating climate change, reducing poverty and conserving biodiversity," said Dr. Charles Ehrhart, coordinator of the Poverty-Climate Change Initiative for CARE International. "In addition, the CCB Standards help the buyers of carbon credits know what they are getting - and these assurances are critical to ensuring market health. CARE is excited to join the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance and help strengthen the market for multiple-benefit forestry projects."

A major milestone for the CCBA was reached earlier this year when the first two forestry projects, in Panama and in China, were independently certified under the CCB Standards. Several dozen projects, being developed under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism for the voluntary carbon market, are now using the CCB Standards, and the list is growing rapidly. In addition, an increasing number of investors are requesting "CCB carbon" by name, and leading market players, including the World Bank and EcoSecurities, are applying the CCB Standards to their extensive project portfolios. Furthermore, the Chinese government has endorsed the Standards as a valuable tool for helping their country develop sustainable forestry initiatives.

"I'm very excited that CARE has joined the CCBA, and believe it will bring valuable new energy, expertise and perspectives to our work," said Toby Janson-Smith, CCBA director. "CARE, with its unparalleled experience developing projects that benefit disadvantaged communities, will enable CCBA and its standards to better address the needs of the world's poor."

As one of the world's largest humanitarian NGOs, CARE works in 66 countries delivering emergency assistance and helping poor communities achieve their development aspirations. CARE plans to develop a number of multiple-benefit, land-based carbon projects using the CCB Standards.