ACR Climate Brief | January 2026

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March 23, 2026

SPOTLIGHT
A Record Year for ACR

Last year, ACR issued more than 53 million emission reduction and removal credits, an increase of nearly 20% from 2024 and an annual record since we issued the world’s first greenhouse gas credits in 2002. 43% of the credits were from forestry projects and 57% were from industrial projects. The issued credits are approved for use by entities in regulated markets, such as California, Washington and ICAO’s CORSIA, as well as by corporates towards voluntary climate commitments. In 2026, we will continue to build on this momentum.

Late last year, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) approved ACR, along with sister organization ART, as one of the first four independent crediting programs to supply carbon credits for the Second Phase of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), covering the period 2027–2029. All of ACR’s active methodologies are approved for CORSIA’s Second Phase, demonstrating that ACR continues to meet the high bar for quality in the global aviation carbon market.

Throughout 2025, ACR engaged deeply with the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), earning its Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label for our Afforestation and Reforestation of Degraded Lands and Improved Forest Management on Non-Federal U.S. Forestlands (IFM v2.1) methodologies. Following these accomplishments, GreenTrees (ACR114) had the first nature-based CCP-Approved credits in the world, and The Conservation Fund’s Hodag Forest Project (ACR709) was issued the first CCP-Approved IFM credits in the world. While these approvals are important steps forward, ACR will continue to engage with ICVCM throughout its assessment process with the intent of securing CCP-Approved labels across our portfolio of active methodologies.

Looking ahead, 2026 is a big year for ACR. We are celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the founding of Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), our organizational home. We will transition to a next-generation registry platform, publish version 2.0 of our Carbon Capture and Storage methodology, and build a co-benefits certification program. Each of these advances is designed to increase our collective impact and drive additional value from actions that reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions.

All of this is a testament to the exceptional work of the ACR team, the community of partners who are developing and investing in high-quality emission reduction and removals projects, as well as those ensuring robust market infrastructure and implementing policy frameworks to scale climate action globally. Across North America and around the world, carbon markets are financing climate action beyond “Business as Usual” and supporting enhanced ambition towards Paris Agreement goals.

Despite continued headwinds, I remain optimistic about the year ahead. Mostly I am grateful for the community of partners and team of experts ACR has assembled, all working to implement meaningful climate actions. In challenging times, action is an antidote. And at ACR, we are laser focused on creating ambitious climate results. Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Mary Grady

Executive Director, ACR

SPOTLIGHT
Planting a Forest Across Generations

Janie Cater’s grandfather, Grover C. Womack, first settled in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana in 1870. Establishing a family farm that operated for more than 100 years, generations of the Womack family were raised on the land. “It’s where everything happened,” Cater explained. “It’s where we rode horses, went hunting and walked with the children. I consider it a family legacy.”

Just over 1,000 acres, the farm was not fertile enough to grow cotton, the last crop the family tried. Instead, it was mostly used for grazing cattle. Then, the family was approached by GreenTrees with an opportunity to partner, offering an alternative income source via carbon credits to offset ownership costs. As a result, something different was planted, trees.

Read the case study here.

SPOTLIGHT
ACR Team in the Field

Late last year, the ACR Forestry Team held a retreat and site visit in Arkansas, including a tour of the Weyerhaeuser Razorback IFM Project (ACR885). Located in the southeastern part of the state, the project covers 56,879 acres of forestland, primarily loblolly pine stands and hardwood bottomlands. Historically managed for timber, Weyerhaeuser reduced timber production through extended rotations to increase greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals.

Weyerhaeuser owns and manages 6.4 million acres of timberlands in the southeast U.S., a substantial part of their 10.4 million acres overall. In Arkansas alone the company owns 1.2 million acres. As Frederick Weyerhaeuser stated when he founded the company 125 years ago, “this is not for us, nor for our children, but for our grandchildren.”

Our host at Weyerhaeuser was Jason Gibson, Director of Forest Carbon. With 25 years of experience at the company, Jason and his colleagues showed us around the project area. Weyerhaeuser is committed to the forest economy in the rural communities where it operates. As a result, the carbon project incentivizes climate mitigation while ensuring ensure adequate supply to mills in the region. Set in the Saline and Bayou Bartholomew watersheds, the project area is ecologically rich, with more than 100 species of fish and numerous wildlife species. In addition, the Saline River is the last major stream in the Ouachita Mountains that has not been dammed.

ACR offers our sincere thanks to Weyerhaeuser for hosting us and for generously sharing their time and expertise.

In 2025, ACR team members audited verifications of the following 16 projects:

ACR276 – Allegheny Improved Forest Management Project
ACR313 / CALS5263 – High Island Dairy
ACR407 / CAMM5407 – BMMC1
ACR545 / CAMM5545 – WMMC2
ACR651 / CAMM5651 – CH4 – BWM Carbon Capture Project 1
ACR751 – Green Assets – DLT Avoided Conversion Project
ACR800 / CAMM5800 – CH4-BWM Carbon Capture Project 2
ACR831 – LandYield Small Scale IFM Project I
ACR917 / CAMM5917 – PMR VT2
ACR966 – Heartland Methane Abatement and Land Restoration Project 2
ACR1040 / CAOD1040 – Tradewater ODS 55
ACR1067 / CAOD1067– Tradewater ODS 56
ACR1090 / CAOD1090 – Tradewater ODS 57
ACR1094 / CAMM1094 – RMMC1
ACR1113 / ECYOD1113 – A-Gas 2-2024
ACR1154 – Hay Road Landfill, Vacaville, CA: GHG Emission Reduction Automation Collection of Landfill Gas

NEWS & UPDATES

ACR Issues First IFM Credits for Washington Compliance Market

In September 2025, ACR issued more than 450,000 credits to the Rudio Mountain Forest Carbon Project (ACR1053 / ECYFR1053), in a first for the Washington State “Cap-and-Invest” market. The credits are the first to be issued to a project using the Washington State Compliance Offset Protocol for U.S. Forest Projects.

Set on nearly 18,000 acres of forest in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, the improved forest management project was previously managed for timber production. As part of the project, the forest manager will increase rotation lengths to increase carbon stocks.

ACR is an approved Offset Project Registry (OPR) for the Washington State Cap and Invest compliance program.

Partners for Change in Peru

In a landmark collaboration, Grupo Perú and the Ministry of Environment of Perú partnered to develop the world’s first Indigenous Jurisdictional REDD+ Program under the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), earning the 2025 ACR Innovation Award.

Read the case study.

Video: Bringing Bison Back to the Blackfeet Nation

The National Indian Carbon Coalition is working with the Blackfeet Nation to develop an improved forest management carbon project to sequester carbon and steward lands for American Bison.

Watch the video.