CARBONVERDE®
Steven Ruddell, ~ President
Steve Ruddell is Founder and Principal at CarbonVerde, LLC, a bio-carbon project and policy consulting firm with headquarters in Durango, Colorado. As a professional forester, Mr. Ruddell has over 30 years of experience in public and private forest resource management, forest policy, forest economics & market research, forest products manufacturing management, and supply chain management. Steve has helped clients increase forest resource values by linking forest and agricultural practices to global commodity markets through the application of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Forest Stewardship Council, and American Forest Foundations sustainable forest management standards, and generating forest carbon emission reduction credits for voluntary (Verified Carbon Standard) and compliance (California Air Resources Board, and Gold Standard/CarbonFix) markets. For the past 15 years Mr. Ruddell has lead private sector companies in developing and implementing business models that assist its clients in investing in forest conservation and sustainability initiatives using market-based mechanisms that include carbon asset management strategies for trading emission reduction credits within voluntary and emerging compliance markets internationally, and investing in sustainable forest management practices and product labeling required to access North American markets.
At CarbonVerde Mr. Ruddell conducts investment due diligence, emission reduction feasibility studies, and manages project development through the registration of offset credits for its clients. He works with forestland owners, project developers, and private equity firms to support origination, commercialization, and delivery of high quality emission reduction credits from Improved Forest Management, Avoided Conversion, Afforestation/Reforestation domestically for the California Air Resources Board’s compliance market, and internationally through the use of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and Improved forest Management through the Verified Carbon Standard and gold Standard/CarbonFix, social and environmental protections through the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance standard.
Mr. Ruddell has influenced the development of sustainability standards, and US and regional climate policies through his involvement and leadership in; the Forest-Climate Working Group, the Society of American Foresters Climate Change Task Force, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative forest management standard, the Chicago Climate Exchange’s forest offsets protocols, the North American Forest Carbon Standards Committee, and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance’s standard. In 2009 through his work with the Forest-Climate Working Group, 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 holds a BS in Forest Management from Utah State University, and an MS in Forestry and MBA from Michigan State University, and has completed three years of post-graduate work towards a PhD in natural resource economics.
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