ACR is developing an updated version 2.0 of its Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions and Removals from Carbon Capture and Storage Projects.  

As in the current approved version of the methodology, greenhouse emission reductions and removals are quantified from the capture, transportation, and storage of anthropogenic CO₂.  This methodology extends eligibility to projects that utilize Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies such as Direct Air Capture (DAC) and the use of Sustainable Biomass as a feedstock. The methodology also expands the eligibility criteria for geologic storage reservoir to include saline formations and depleted oil and gas reservoirs which will significantly expand the geographic range for supported projects. For projects that utilize CO₂ for Enhanced Oil Recovery, Version 2.0 includes calculations to account for emissions from transportation, refining, and end use of the produced hydrocarbons.

The methodology is being updated through ACR’s public consultation and scientific peer review process.

The public comment period is now closed.

ACR, a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, is developing Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Reductions from Advanced Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems, Version 1.0. This Methodology is being co-developed by ACR & Therm Solutions, Inc.

The intent of the methodology is to incentivize GHG emissions reductions through the deployment and use of refrigerants with low global warming potential (GWP) in HVAC applications in both residential and commercial settings. Intended eligible equipment categories include: unitary air conditioners, chillers, heat pumps, packaged terminal air conditioners (PTAC), and window air conditioning units.

ACR’s methodology will allow the eligible equipment types within the HVAC market to generate carbon credits when they switch from high GWP refrigerants to lower GWP refrigerants (below 750 GWP) that have been approved under the EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program. The recovered high-GWP HFC refrigerants may be destroyed to generate additional carbon credits using ACR’s Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions and Removals from Destruction of Ozone Depleting Substances and High GWP Foam. Greenfield projects where property or business owners choose to install HVACs with low GWP refrigerants will also be eligible to utilize this methodology.

The methodology is based on a robust data set, including published data from the EPA, the 2006 International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for GHG Inventories, and additionally an industry survey conducted by Therm.

ACR requires independent third-party validation and verification of all GHG projects following the ACR Validation and Verification Standard, which details ACR’s third-party validation and verification requirements that every GHG project must undergo in order for ACR to register GHG emission reductions and removals as carbon credits.

ACR is developing an updated version 2.0 of the ACR Validation and Verification Standard to align with the most recent versions of the ACR Standard and ISO standards and to provide greater clarity to ACR Validation and Verification Bodies (VVBs) and project developers. A public comment draft is expected to be released in August of 2023. In addition to the ACR Validation and Verification Standard, VVBs should refer to the ACR webpage for Validation and Verification for forms, templates and general information on the process.

ACR has published Version 2.0 of the Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions and Removals from Landfill Gas Destruction and Beneficial Use Projects.

The original version of the Methodology was developed by ACR, with technical support from the US EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program. Version 2.0 of the Methodology was developed in cooperation with Loci Controls, Inc.

The collection and combustion of landfill gas (LFG) is an effective method for reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would have otherwise been vented to the atmosphere. The ACR methodology provides the quantification and accounting frameworks, including eligibility and monitoring requirements for the creation of carbon offset credits from the reductions in GHG emissions resulting from the destruction or utilization of landfill gas at eligible U.S. landfills.

The Methodology is intended to be used as an incentive to increase the below activities and utilizes a flexible additionality framework which is based on either a performance standard or ACR’s three-pronged additionality test.

Projects that reduce methane emissions as a result of the combustion or beneficial use of LFG in any of the following activities are considered a “project activity” under the Methodology:

1. The destruction of landfill gas in an eligible flare;
2. The conversion of landfill gas in a turbine, boiler or generator to energy;
3. The enhancement of landfill gas for injection into a natural gas pipeline; and
4. The enhancement of landfill gas for use in fleet vehicles, trucks and cars.

Version 2.0 of the Methodology adds a fifth eligible project activity:

5. The installation of an automated collection system that increases landfill gas collection efficiency above that obtained with standard collection methods with methane destruction, conversion, or enhancement occurring via any of the technologies in 1-4 above.

Automated collection systems hold tremendous promise to increase the collection of methane from landfills through the use of automatic control and measurement devices that eliminate the need for standard manual wellfield tuning. When combined with cloud- based data collection and analysis tools, automated collection systems result in the ability to continuously optimize wellfield conditions resulting in significant increases in landfill gas collection efficiency.

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. A nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, ACR was founded in 1996 as the first private greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the world with the mission of harnessing the power of markets to improve the environment.

ACR has published version 1.1 of the Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions and Removals from Capturing and Destroying Methane from Coal and Trona Mines in North America.

Coal and trona mine methane refers to methane from surface or underground mines and abandoned underground coal mines that is released to the atmosphere or captured in advance of, during, or following mining activities. In 2016, methane emissions from coal mines accounted for 8% of U.S. methane emissions [1]. While a smaller source of methane emissions, trona mining may contribute up to 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in the U.S. annually [2]. In total, methane was responsible for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2016 and is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential several times that of carbon dioxide.

The purpose of the Methodology is to quantify greenhouse gas emission reductions associated with the capture and destruction of methane that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere as a result of mining operations at active underground and surface coal and trona mines and abandoned underground coal mines. This is important as a greenhouse gas mitigation activity but methane mitigation at mines also contributes to mine safety initiatives and can increase the supply of a clean energy source when methane is recovered and used to produce electricity or heat.

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. A nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, ACR was founded in 1996 as the first private greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the world with the mission of harnessing the power of markets to improve the environment.

[1]. See EPA Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2016 (April 2018)

[2]. U.S. EPA Coalbed Methane Outreach Program Case Study: Methane Recovery at Non-coal mines

ACR has published version 1.1 of the Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions and Removals from Carbon Capture and Storage Projects.

The methodology was authored by Blue Strategies and approved through ACR’s public comment and scientific peer review process.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial processes or direct air capture of atmospheric CO2, followed by compression, transport, and injection for permanent storage of CO2 in deep underground geologic formations. By preventing CO2 from large-scale industrial facilities from entering the atmosphere or removing CO2 that currently resides in the atmosphere, CCS is a powerful tool for addressing climate change. Only anthropogenic CO2 that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere under business-as-usual conditions is eligible to create credits under this methodology. The methodology applies to multiple CO2 source types, including electric power plants equipped with pre-combustion, post-combustion, or oxy-fired technologies; industrial facilities such as natural gas production, fertilizer manufacturing, ethanol production; polygeneration facilities (facilities producing electricity and one or more of other commercial grade byproducts); and direct air capture (DAC) facilities. CO2 transport may be by pipeline only.

While there are multiple options possible for geological storage, this methodology applies to enhanced oil and gas recovery projects only, in which CO2 is injected to enhance production from hydrocarbon-producing reservoirs or currently non-producing reservoirs. Geologic storage is defined as the placement of CO2 into a subsurface formation where it will remain safely and permanently stored. Accounting aspects of the methodology are based on the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage Projects, a multi-stakeholder process led by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, for which both ACR and Blue Strategies served as workgroup participants.

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. A nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, ACR was founded in 1996 as the first private greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the world with the mission of harnessing the power of markets to improve the environment.

ACR has published version 1.0 of the Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions and Removals from Restoration of Pocosin Wetlands.

The methodology was developed by The Nature Conservancy and TerraCarbon LLC.

Pocosins are unique freshwater wetlands, often shrub-dominated, on organic soils in the Atlantic coastal plain of the southeastern United States (Virginia to northern Florida) that are seasonally saturated primarily through precipitation. Under typical hydrologic conditions, decomposition of the organic soils is inhibited, allowing for accumulation of organic carbon. However, after drainage occurs (often for conversion to agriculture or forestry) the ability for these wetlands to be a carbon sink is greatly diminished. Pocosin restoration is achieved through water management, bringing hydrology back to more natural conditions. Under re-wetted conditions, greenhouse gas emissions via peat decomposition is slowed and eventually additional carbon is sequestered.

The ACR Methodology for Restoration of Pocosin Wetlands establishes standardized procedures to monitor and account the greenhouse gas benefits associated with restoring drained pocosin habitat.

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. A nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, ACR was founded in 1996 as the first private greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the world with the mission of harnessing the power of markets to improve the environment.

ACR has published version 1.1 of the Methodology for the Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions and Removals from The Restoration of California Deltaic and Coastal Wetlands.

ACR partnered with the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, HydroFocus, University of California Berkeley and Tierra Resources to develop a new carbon offset methodology to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions from the restoration of California deltaic and coastal wetlands. Funding for methodology development was provided by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the California Coastal Conservancy, Metropolitan Water District and California Department of Water Resources.

The methodology builds upon ACR’s approved methodology, Restoration of Degraded Deltaic Wetlands of the Mississippi Delta, by integrating California data and region-specific restoration techniques to create a rigorous framework for quantifying baseline and project emissions that are unique to wetlands in California.

Research in the San Joaquin delta shows that, per acre, wetlands are the most carbon-rich ecosystem. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), DWR, HydroFocus and U.C. Berkeley have been studying these wetlands since the 1980s and have documented very high rates of primary productivity and carbon sequestration in wetlands, as well as significant GHG losses due to subsidence and oxidation.

Eligible project types in the methodology will include wetland creation and a switch from row crops to rice cultivation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as well as tidal wetland creation in the Suisun Marsh and California coastal areas. In the absence of these projects (i.e., the baseline scenario), wetlands would continue to subside, or in some cases disappear entirely, or result in severe CO2 oxidation. If restored, these ecosystems can store large quantities of carbon in rich peat soils.

ACR’s methodology approval process includes an extensive internal review, a public comment period, and a detailed and iterative scientific peer review by a technical group of sector experts.

Version 1.1 of this methodology was published to correct errors and provide clarification for the original version.

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. A nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, ACR was founded in 1996 as the first private greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the world with the mission of harnessing the power of markets to improve the environment.