California Air Resources Board

There are multiple direct environmental benefits to the State of California if the California Air Resources Board added the approved ACR Orphan Well Protocol to the list of approved compliance offset protocols.

From the methodology: "Since, methane, although a short-lived pollutant, is a more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) when compared to CO2 on a Kg-to-Kg basis—and is already responsible for about a third of warming the world has experienced since the industrial revolution—it is imperative to take immediate action to see benefits of mitigating this short-lived climate pollutant to slow down the rate of warming in the near term. This methodology is intended to be used as an incentive to drastically cut emissions by creating carbon credits as a source of funding for the plugging of leaking- sometimes for decades- orphan oil and gas (O&G) wells, and to help operators and jurisdictions prioritize leaking methane as an environmental risk."