About CarbonVerde
the team, Steven Ruddell, ACF ~ President
CarbonVerde, LLC is a bio-carbon project and policy consultancy headed by Mr. Steven Ruddell, ACF. Steve is a professional forester who has over 30 years of experience with public and private forest resource management, forest policy, forest economic & marketing research, and sustainable management of forests. For the past 12 years Steve has been consulting with clients on investments in forest conservation and sustainability initiatives using market-based mechanisms including carbon asset management strategies for trading emission reduction credits (VERs and CERs) within voluntary and emerging compliance markets, and sustainable forest management standards, e.g. SFI, FSC, and AFF. Steve has led market-based initiatives for private and public forestland management organizations, a global conservation NGO’s forest carbon portfolio, and independent third-party validation and verification firms.
Steve works with project developers and private equity firms on the feasibility and development of Improved Forest Management, Avoided Conversion, Afforestation/Reforestation, and REDD forest carbon projects to the requirements of the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Climate Action Reserve (CAR), American Carbon Registry (ACR), ISO 14064-2, CarbonFix Standard, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Community, Climate and Biodiversity (CCB) standards. Steve is an approved VCS AFOLU expert for validating Improved Forest Management (IFM) and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) methodologies.
Mr. Ruddell has conducted forest carbon consulting and verification for integrated forest management companies, non-industrial forestland owners, tribal timberlands, NGO’s, aggregators, conservation organizations, and institutional investors. Steve’s international experience includes Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, and the Central African Republic.
Mr. Ruddell is an active speaker and writer on US forest carbon policy within over-the-counter and compliance emissions trading markets, and has played a role in shaping forest carbon policy in the United States. In 2009, Mr. Ruddell provided testimony before the House Agriculture Committee on pending climate change legislation, and briefed Senate and House Agriculture Committee staff as part of a panel on the role of agriculture and forestry in US climate legislation.
Steve’s past and present forest carbon policy work includes:
- Society of American Foresters Climate Change Task Force
- North American Forest Carbon Standards Committee – Vice Chair
- Forest-Climate Working Group – Legislative Committee
- International Emissions Trading Association, Land Use Change Working Group
- Chicago Climate Exchange, Forestry Committee, and Verifiers Advisory Committee
- Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance, revision team for its Second Edition
- Climate Action Registry - Expert review of the Verification Protocol
- American Carbon Registry Forest Carbon Projects Standard, Version 2.0
Mr. Ruddell holds an MS in Forestry and MBA from Michigan State University, and has completed three years of post-graduate work toward a PhD in forest resource economics.
Sarah Ruddell
Associate, Environmental Markets
Sarah joined CarbonVerde’s team in August of 2010. Sarah supports forest and agricultural carbon project proposals, conducts feasibility studies, writes project documents, and supports project implementation, including modeling emission reductions (using the US Forest Service Forest Vegetation Simulator – FVS) for forestland clients using the VCS, CAR/ARB, ACR and CDM standards, developing carbon accounting systems, writing emission reduction assessment reports, and conducting market research to keep clients up to date on market changes. Sarah is part of CarbonVerde’s AFOLU project development team, and supports all aspects of project fulfillment. She travels domestically and internationally for CarbonVerde assignments, and has attended trainings, seminars, and workshops on FVS modeling, REDD, ecosystem markets, and climate change.
Sarah has a Bachelor’s degree from Alma College with a double major in Mathematics and Sculpture. She will be attending the University of Colorado beginning in the Fall of 2011 for an MBA program in Environmental Finance at the Leeds School of Business, and will continue to consult for CarbonVerde throughout her program. Prior to joining CarbonVerde in Colorado, Sarah spent five years living in New York City, working in management and sales.