California’s carbon market regulators issued almost 3.5 million offsets over the past two weeks, including the first credits awarded to a coal mine methane project, data published late Tuesday showed.

The latest issuances lifted the number of offsets handed out by the state to date by 11.5% to 33.9 million, up from 30.4 million.

Verdeo McElroy’s mine methane capture project in West Virginia was awarded 280,667 CCOs, the first compliance units from this project type, with the biggest award a 1.3 million issuance to Brushy Mountain’s forestry project in California.

Separately, Quebec listed a new offset project on Wednesday that is forecast to cut more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2e annually.

The landfill gas project, the fifth of its kind in the scheme and second in Riviere-Rouge, started operating at the beginning of 2015 and has an estimated 10-year duration, the provincial government said on its website.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com