Director, Co-Benefits Certification
Margaret Williams, Director, Co-Benefits Certification, leads ACR’s work to develop a certification program to verify the environmental and social benefits achieved through the development of carbon projects registered with ACR. She works with ACR Forestry and Industrial Programs, and Registry Operations, as well as ACR stakeholders to develop and operationalize the certification.
Margaret re-joined ACR in 2026 after previously serving as ACR’s Technical Director and Director of Industrial Programs between 2015 and 2022. During that time, Margaret oversaw the implementation of four USDA Conservation Innovation Grants, the development and adoption of new ACR methodologies, the update of existing methodologies, and the ACR Industrial Programs team. Between 2022 and 2026, Margaret was part of BP’s Low Carbon Trading Center of Excellence where she conducted due diligence and project management of compliance and offset projects in BP’s global portfolio. Before joining ACR in 2015, she worked as a carbon offset project developer and a consultant conducting GHG inventories, reduction plans and audits for local governments.
Margaret’s work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals as well as applied settings. She has given presentations and testimonies in relation to the carbon market to stakeholders, policy makers, technical audiences, and the general public. She holds a PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry from the University of Miami and a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia. She completed postdoctoral research at NASA Ames Research Center and the University of California, Irvine.
