Carbon Market

Landfill Methane Reclamation and Destruction

The anaerobic decomposition of organic material buried in a landfill generates methane (CH₄) emissions that contribute to climate change.

The government supports the implementation of projects that reduce methane emissions from landfills by granting offset credits in the carbon market

Submitting a project to obtain offset credits

To be eligible for offset credits under the Regulation respecting landfill methane reclamation and destruction projects, you must complete the following steps.

Step 1: List a project

To list a project, you must complete the Project notice or renewal notice for offset credits relating to landfill methane reclamation and destruction projects form (French, PDF, 1.2 MB). You must then send the form to the Minister, as indicated on the form.

The Minister will assign a code to your project and will list it to the Register of Offset Credit Projects. Your project may have already begun before your project notice is submitted to the Minister.

Step 2: Implement, run and monitor the project

Once your project is launched, it must be monitored in accordance with the conditions set out in the Regulation.

Project monitoring includes the collection and recording of data required to quantify GHG emission reductions. It also involves the installation, operation, maintenance, verification and calibration of measuring instruments and other devices and equipment.

Step 3: Quantify GHG emission reductions and draft a project report

You must quantify your project’s GHG emission reductions and provide certain information required for the initial compliance period or for subsequent reporting periods, as the case may be.

To that end, please use the Offset Credit Project Report Template – Landfill methane reclamation and destruction projects (French, Word, 78 KB).

You are required to send the project report(s) to the Minister only when you are ready to submit your application for issuance of offset credits, or at the Minister’s request.

Step 4: Have the project report verified by an accredited verification organization

Prior to submitting an application for issuance of offset credits, you must have the project report(s) verified by an accredited verification organization. The verification will be at the project promoter’s expense.

The verification organization must confirm with a reasonable level of confidence that the project report complies with the Regulation and that the project’s emission reductions are free of significant errors, omissions or inaccuracies. The verification organization must issue a report in compliance with the conditions set out in the Regulation.

Step 5: Submit an application for issuance of offset credits and await analysis, decision and remittance of credits

To obtain offset credits for your project, you must submit an application for issuance of offset credits to the Minister. The application must include the information and documents set out in the RCATS, in addition to the project report(s) and the verification report. To that end, please use the Application for issuance of offset credits – GHG emission reduction projects form (French, PDF, 2.3 MB).

Your project will be analyzed after your application has been submitted. If all the requirements are met, the Minister will then issue the offset credits and deposit 97% of the credits into your general account in the C&T Compliance Instruments Tracking System Service (CITSS), rounded down to the nearest whole number. The remaining credits will be deposited into the Minister’s environmental integrity account, which serves as a cushion to replace credits that may have been cancelled in certain circumstances. Therefore, Québec’s offset credits are 100% guaranteed; there is no risk for the buyer.

Assistance

If you have any questions concerning this process, please contact the Carbon Market Division’s offset credit team by email at dmc.creditscompensatoires@environnement.gouv.qc.ca.

Please do not send personal or confidential information to this email address, as it is not secure.