ANAHEIM, Calif. ─ April 7, 2022 – Last night, the American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, hosted its annual gala reception to recognize and thank its members and partners. ACR Executive Director Mary Grady welcomed guests, presented highlights from the last two years and described the awards to be presented, including the individual Climate Leadership award as well as organizational awards based on ACR’s guiding principles of innovation, quality and excellence.

Grady presented ACR’s Climate Leadership award to Frances Seymour, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute (WRI), internationally recognized author and expert on the role of forests in addressing climate change and sustainable development. Seymour’s career contributions and tireless dedication have played a pivotal role in advancing scientific, economic and policy foundations for forest protection and restoration as critical tools to combat global climate change and to protect the rights and livelihoods of local communities and Indigenous Peoples. From her early internships at USAID in the Philippines and with the United Nations Development Programme in Nepal, as well as her assignment at the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, she gained an appreciation of the complex drivers of tropical deforestation. During her policy-oriented tenures at World Wildlife Fund, WRI, the Center for Global Development, and six years at the helm of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia, she has been a consistent voice for science-led research and evidence-based policies to unlock the massive potential of forests as a cost-effective nature-based climate solution and the commensurate need to mobilize finance at scale to this end.

Sharing Winrock’s deep-rooted concern that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the world’s poorest people, she also believes that addressing the challenge provides an unparalleled opportunity to turn the tide on deforestation and forest governance. Her 2016 book “Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change” (co-authored by Jonah Busch) clearly articulates the pathways for public and private sector action to stop deforestation as urgent, necessary and achievable to ensure climate stability, protect biodiversity and realize sustainable development goals. Seymour generously contributes her knowledge and wisdom to an extensive list of organizations and initiatives, including the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) that is hosted by Winrock International. Colleagues in these initiatives benefit from her extraordinary 360-degree view of forest and climate issues combined with her positive, consensus-based approach to deliver results at scale and her relentless advocacy for our planet Earth.

“I am honored to receive this award from the American Carbon Registry, and to find myself in the distinguished company of previous individual recipients and representatives of the organizations being recognized this year,” stated Seymour. “In light of the recent surge of interest in carbon markets and nature-based solutions to climate change, it’s more important than ever to ensure that such markets are held to the highest standards of social and environmental integrity. Colleagues at ACR and Winrock have lived up to their principles of innovation, quality, and excellence, not least through their many past and present contributions to harnessing the potential of the world’s forests as a solution to climate change.”

The ACR Commitment to Quality award was presented to the Governors’ Climate and Forests (GCF) Task Force for empowering 39-member subnational jurisdictions in 10 countries that represent over one third of the world’s tropical forests to implement the highest quality programs to protect and restore forests and reduce emissions from deforestation while benefiting local communities and Indigenous Peoples. Launched in 2008 through a landmark Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation on Climate and Forests by Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger of California and nine other governors from Brazil, Indonesia, and the United States, the GCF Task Force has focused on the collective strength of subnational governments and jurisdictional approaches to deliver climate results at scale. Over the last 14 years, the GCF Task Force has supported member states and provinces to develop robust jurisdictional REDD+ strategies and investment plans, including working with key partners to provide innovation funding for actions that accelerate reduced deforestation.

The GCF Task Force has also been at the forefront of recognizing the critical role that Indigenous Peoples and local and traditional communities play in protecting forests, and has worked tirelessly to cultivate authentic, collaborative partnerships between governments and forest communities to achieve mutual objectives. The GCF Task Force developed and is currently implementing a set of Guiding Principles for this collaboration, which has been endorsed by 17 non-governmental organizations, 34 governments and 18 Indigenous Peoples organizations. The policy and advocacy work is led by the GCF Task Force Global Committee on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, which convenes regularly to share effective strategies for government-community partnerships.

“We are honored to receive this award on behalf of the members of the GCF Task Force in recognition of the hard work they do every day with their partners to protect forests, reduce emissions, and enhance livelihoods,” stated William Boyd, GCF Task Force Project Lead. “We look forward to continuing to support these leading states and provinces as they assess opportunities to address the very real challenges on the ground, including the important carbon finance and market opportunities presented by Winrock and ART.”

ACR honored Finite Carbon with the Innovation award for spearheading the development of a first-of-a-kind methodology for Improved Forest Management (IFM) designed specifically for small non-industrial private forestlands. Despite owning nearly 40% of U.S. forestlands, less than 1% of small forest ownerships have enrolled in the carbon market to date. This is due to known financial and institutional barriers associated with the scale and complexity of the existing market. The peer-reviewed methodology includes innovative aggregation, monitoring, and verification approaches that create efficiencies and streamlined processes to alleviate market entry barriers and incentivize climate action by small landowners ranging from 40 to 5,000 forested acres. The methodology rewards long-term sustainable forest management practices including the landowner’s commitment to forego harvesting, grow trees longer and increase forest stocking, in addition to providing significant co-benefits such as habitat and water protection, improved soil health and recreation.

“We’re honored to accept this award from the American Carbon Registry for our work to enable small forest landowners to access the carbon offset market while ensuring the integrity of offsets created on these lands,” said Sean Carney, President of Finite Carbon. “Finite Carbon has always been a proponent of rigorous, peer-reviewed standards for all forest offset projects, and forests owned by small, family landowners have a critical role to play in sequestering carbon, maintaining biodiversity, and providing clean air and water to our communities.”

The ACR Corporate Excellence award was presented to Bank of America (BofA) for its ambitious corporate climate action. The bank achieved carbon neutrality in 2019, a year ahead of schedule, by reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions, purchasing 100 percent electricity and offsetting unavoidable emissions with high-quality carbon credits. Since 2010, BofA has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent, cut energy consumption by 45 percent through a variety of energy efficiency measures, and purchases 100% of its annual electricity usage from renewable sources. To compensate for unavoidable emissions, the bank supports a variety of high impact carbon projects including GreenTrees, North America’s largest reforestation project, which has planted over 42 million trees on over 120,000 acres, which includes over 500 landowners in the Mississippi River Valley. In 2021 BofA expanded its commitment to reach net zero before 2050 for financing activities, operations and supply chain, and has committed to mobilize $1 trillion by 2030 to accelerate sustainable businesses through lending, investing and other financial solutions.

ICAO’s approval of ACR’s post-2020 offset credits was based on ACR’s ability to demonstrate that it would ensure avoidance of double counting

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, June 2, 2021 – American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, is pleased to announce the recent decision of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to extend the eligibility of ACR offset credits for compliance under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), to include  units  generated during the period 2021 to 2023. This decision marks the first ICAO approval of a carbon crediting program to offer post-2020 vintage credits for airlines to meet their targets in the first compliance cycle 2021-2023.

ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that manages the standards that govern international aviation. In 2016, ICAO approved the CORSIA as a global market-based mechanism to achieve carbon-neutral growth in international aviation starting in 2020. CORSIA is expected to reduce or offset between 2.5 and 4 billion tons of CO2-e through 2035.

To date, ICAO has approved only eight carbon crediting programs globally to supply offset credits for the CORSIA and, until this recent decision, only for units generated between 2016 and 2020.

“ACR welcomes the ICAO Council’s approval following its thorough review of our program requirements and oversight,” said Mary Grady, Executive Director of ACR. “ACR is committed to be a leader in providing high-integrity offset credits based on the best available science. This approval reflects our commitment to ensure our procedures continue to improve and evolve in line with the international climate negotiations and frameworks.”

ICAO’s updated approval of ACR offset credits was based on ACR’s ability to demonstrate that it would ensure avoidance of double counting of credits used for CORSIA with mitigation targets under the Paris Agreement. In the context of climate change mitigation, double counting describes situations where a single greenhouse gas emission reduction or removal is used more than once to demonstrate compliance with mitigation targets.

The ICAO Council’s decision follows recommendations from the 19-member Technical Advisory Body (TAB) that was established to evaluate programs’ compliance with Emissions Unit Criteria for offsetting requirements in the 2021-2023 pilot phase of CORSIA.

ACR updated its program procedures to avoid double counting after the TAB’s first assessment in 2019 “found that no emissions unit programmes assessed had all of the necessary procedures in place to demonstrate consistency with the criterion ‘Are only counted once towards a mitigation obligation’.” TAB’s second assessment of crediting programs found that, based on updates to its rules, ACR now meets all elements of the ICAO criterion and its guidelines for avoiding double-counting.

“This approval gives airlines the ability to demonstrate climate leadership by purchasing credits that are aligned with the Paris Agreement as well as with the San Jose Principles. While there is still work to be done with the U.S. Government and project developers to put these procedures into practice, we’re encouraged that ACR is able to help move this important issue forward,” said Grady.

WASHINGTON, DC MAY 20, 2021 – Today, the American Carbon Registry’s Director of Forestry, Jessica Orrego, testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry for its hearing on Federal, State, and Private Forestlands: Opportunities for Addressing Climate Change. ACR, a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, was invited to testify at the hearing by Ranking Committee member Senator Boozman of Arkansas based on ACR’s recent work with the Senate Committee staff on the Growing Climate Solutions Act.

The hearing was convened, in part, to discuss opportunities for supporting the growth of forest carbon markets as both a climate solution and a means to generate benefits for different kinds of forest landowners. As an expert with more than 20 years of forest carbon-related work experience in the areas of offset project development, consulting and offset standard operations, Orrego delivered three key messages to the Senate committee.

First, she explained that a robust market with existing infrastructure including standards, verification bodies, investors and technical experts is already in place.

The U.S. forest carbon market includes more than 200 projects on more than 7 million acres across the country that have issued close to 200 million tons of CO2 emission reductions in the last decade. Projects are located in almost every forested region of the US, and almost every type of forest ownership class is represented in the carbon market, including industrial landowners, conservation organizations, family forest owners and tribes. We are now seeing some state and municipal forests enter the market as well.

“Carbon revenue is directly helping landowners meet a number of land management objectives, ranging from tribes using carbon finance to purchase ancestral lands and improving fire management, to companies using the finance to help manage land more sustainably, or to assist in conservation goals, and even to pay for small landowners’ insurance or taxes, or other family expenditures,” she testified.

Second, she explained that the demand for carbon credits is rapidly increasing and will continue to rise, with U.S. forest owners well-positioned to benefit. More than 1,500 companies have now set net-zero targets and demand for offsets is exponentially increasing to new record levels.

“This is good news for the U.S. forest carbon market. But as demand for offsets grows, so too is demand for integrity. Companies want to know that their investment is leading to real results. Integrity must be the basis for growth,” she said.

Finally, she emphasized that there is no need to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel. The market and related infrastructure is already in place and is rapidly evolving and expanding to offer more opportunities.

“Disruption to the existing carbon market could have adverse effects on investments, private capital, and on landowners and other stakeholders participating in this market. It is our hope that the government will support the growth and scaling of the forest carbon offsets market by working with the current market stakeholders and within the existing processes and frameworks,” she said.

Responding to a question from Senator Boozman (R-AR), the ranking member of the committee, on the role that the Federal government can play in supporting forest carbon markets, Orrego said, “I think there is an important role for the federal government to play to support the growth and scaling of the forest carbon market by providing capacity building support or through loans as referenced in the Rural Forests Market Act. However, I do want to reiterate, and as I stated in my testimony, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here. The carbon market is operating already and it is growing rapidly, so we recommend that any role that the government plays complements the carbon market and the existing frameworks.”

Responding to a question from Senator Smith (D-MN) about the integrity of forest carbon markets, Orrego said, “We welcome scrutiny. As I said in my testimony, the growth and long-term sustainability of the market depend on integrity. And so, we are constantly innovating and improving, based on the latest science, to ensure emission reductions are real, credible and verifiable.” She pointed out that, in many cases, criticism focuses on a few cherry-picked examples, rather than examining the broader impact that the forest carbon market is having, “which is a hugely positive story.”

The full written testimony provided to the committee can be downloaded here.

ARLINGTON VA, March 16, 2020 – American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, is pleased to announce that ACR was approved on Friday, March 13, 2020 by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to supply eligible ACR-issued emission reduction units for compliance under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

The CORSIA is a global market-based mechanism approved by ICAO in 2016 to achieve carbon neutral growth in international aviation starting in 2020. CORSIA is expected to reduce or offset 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2-e through 2035.

The ICAO Council’s approval of programs to supply eligible emissions units for the CORSIA follows recommendations from the 19-member Technical Advisory Body (TAB) that was established to evaluate programs’ compliance with Emissions Unit Criteria for offsetting requirements in the 2021-2023 pilot phase of CORSIA.

ACR’s program application for evaluation by the TAB, submitted on July 12, 2019, included all ACR activity types and methodologies currently approved and active for crediting emission reductions and removals.

ACR’s program application was approved for all scopes for activities, without limitations, for which the first crediting period began no earlier than January 1, 2016 for emissions reductions that occur through December 31, 2020. The list of all eligible emissions units and exclusions will soon be publicly available on the ICAO CORSIA website. 

“ACR appreciates the ICAO Council’s decision based on the rigorous assessment of programs undertaken by the TAB,” stated Mary Grady of ACR. “The international aviation sector has made remarkable progress in a short amount of time on establishing a new global framework to reduce emissions and combat climate change. With this important milestone, we are ready to support implementation of the CORSIA.”

ACR discussed its approval and eligible emissions reduction scopes and methodologies in a webinar on March 18th, 2020.  The recording of the webinar can be accessed here.

LOS ANGELES, April 25, 2019 – Last night, the American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, hosted its annual gala reception to recognize and thank its members and partners. ACR Director John Kadyszewski welcomed guests, presented highlights from the year and described the awards to be presented, including the individual Climate Leadership award as well as organizational awards based on ACR’s guiding principles of innovation, quality and excellence.

Kadyszewski presented ACR’s Climate Leadership award to Jonathan Pershing, Environment Program Director at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, for a lifetime blending thought leadership with the negotiating skills of a diplomat to mobilize global action to address climate change. Pershing understands the key role markets play in finding the most efficient path forward. An early contributor to technical reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, his knowledge of the science and the data helped him play an instrumental role in securing the Paris agreement as Deputy Special Envoy under Todd Stern. Taking over as Special Envoy after Paris, Pershing was the principle architect of the Obama Administration Global Climate Change Initiative which provided over $1 billion a year to support climate change.

Mobilizing capital for action has been a hallmark of Pershing’s career. Before Paris, he was the key architect of the Department of Energy “Mission Innovation” commitment to double climate and clean energy research and development budgets. His skills at analyzing the data have allowed him to see where we need to go before others and his cheerful, upbeat, open demeanor have motivated others to do more than they might have thought they were prepared to do, bringing together business leaders, civil society, governments and investors. He continues with these efforts in his new position with the Hewlett Foundation drawing attention to an increasingly obvious challenge to act more quickly.

“I am honored to accept this award from the American Carbon Registry. The impacts of climate change are becoming ever more severe and widespread, from wildfires in California to floods in the Midwest, to droughts in Australia to unprecedented and powerful cyclones in Africa and Asia,” said Pershing. “Solving the problem and avoiding even more dire future consequences is going to require us all to pull together, with markets, investors, governments and civil society all working collectively for the greatest impact. That in turn will require a heightened degree of transparency and a collective commitment to environmental integrity in our efforts. ACR’s leadership in this arena is important, not only for the market stability and legitimacy it provides, but also for the model it sets globally for a pivotal element of the future climate solution.”

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma accepted the ACR Commitment to Quality award on behalf of the State Treasurer’s Office, which was honored for its dedication to the creation of a robust green bond market in California — a market that elevates greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resiliency considerations while valuing and executing high-quality climate-aligned infrastructure projects. The leadership from the Treasurer’s Office began in 2016 with a listening tour to identify barriers and challenges in the market, and it again convened stakeholders in 2018 to define actionable strategies and solutions for growth. The state has issued over $2 billion in green bonds to date and was one of the first signatories of the Green Bond Pledge, committing to align all future bond issuances financing long-term infrastructure projects with climate resiliency and mitigation benefits where relevant. The Treasurer’s Office continues to support the emergence of a consistent set of best practices, including further standardization, that will help streamline the market and serve as a model for other jurisdictions. Long a leader on social and environmental issues, the state’s commitment to quality only deepens with the extension of non-financial performance filters into project financing, helping to ensure community transformation through the critical infrastructure decisions of tomorrow.

“Climate change threatens our quality of life, our economy, and poses material risk to our communities, especially those that will feel the adverse effects of climate change disproportionally,” stated Ma. “Green bonds are a vital part of an integrated strategy that address the economic dangers and quality of life issues that face all Californians. We need to leverage California’s market presence and leadership to develop a strategy that ensures that green bonds marketed to investors truly are green. I look forward to working with Winrock and ACR to accomplish our shared goals and a more sustainable, resilient future in California.”

ACR honored both Etsy and Lyft with the Corporate Excellence award for their ambitious corporate offsetting programs. Etsy was recognized for bringing climate responsibility to internet retailing as the first global e-commerce company to offset 100 percent of shipping emissions. This commitment addresses the 98 percent of Etsy’s climate impact that is associated with shipments between independent buyers and sellers. Furthermore, Etsy’s support of the UPM Blandin Native American Hardwoods Conservation Project demonstrates the abundant co-benefits of climate action. Some 188,000 acres of Minnesota forest are now managed to increase carbon sequestration, while protecting 30 miles of trout streams, 47 species of birds, and over 30 species of mammals including black bear, grey wolf and moose. Aside from offsetting, Etsy intends to power its offices and computing infrastructure with 100 percent renewable electricity by 2020. And in 2018, the company achieved its goal of running zero-waste operations in its offices globally, two years ahead of schedule. Etsy is demonstrating that the e-commerce revolution can deliver climate benefits.

“We are honored to be recognized by the American Carbon Registry for this prestigious award,” said Chelsea Mozen, Etsy’s sustainability lead. As a two-sided marketplace, we do not directly manage the shipping process, yet we still feel a pressing need to take accountability for its environmental impact. While our ultimate goal is to find long-term solutions that will completely eliminate carbon emissions, offsets are a crucial step in our sustainability journey.”

Lyft was recognized for making ride-sharing on its platform a carbon neutral transportation alternative.  The company has committed to retire offsets against all rides, along with using offsets and renewable energy credits for the remainder of business operations. In 2018 alone, Lyft offset more than a million metric tons of CO2. Further cementing its climate commitments, Lyft is making electric vehicles available for rent to drivers; offers micro-mobility solutions; created an option for riders to request electric or hybrid vehicles; partnered with public transit agencies; and committed to increasing shared rides. With real understanding of how urban mobility impacts climate, Lyft is driving towards a greener transportation ecosystem.

“Lyft was founded with the mission of improving people’s lives with the world’s best transportation. One of the key ways we work to improve people’s lives is environmentally — by driving carbon out of the transportation ecosystem. This is why last year Lyft became the first and only ridesharing company committed to making all rides on our platform carbon neutral,” said Sam Arons, Lyft’s Director of Sustainability. “We thank the American Carbon Registry for recognizing our efforts to take bold action to address climate change, and we look forward to continuing to work with our communities and all of our partners to make transportation cleaner and more efficient.”

ACR honored TerraCarbon and the North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for their innovative work developing the methodology for Restoration of Pocosin Wetlands. A type of freshwater wetlands unique to the Atlantic Coastal plain of the U.S. extending from southern Virginia to northern Florida, pocosins store substantial amounts of carbon. At one time they covered over one million acres in eastern North Carolina alone. Only about 280,000 acres remain today, mirroring the trend across the United States of massive wetland loss following settlement. Pocosin wetlands were ditched and drained for agriculture and forestry beginning in the late 1700s. When pocosin wetlands dry up, carbon is released. The ability to generate carbon offsets from the restoration represents an innovative opportunity to attract carbon finance to avoid further carbon loss.

“TerraCarbon is honored to work with The Nature Conservancy on this innovative and important effort to restore pocosin wetlands, which are critical to mitigating and adapting to climate change,” said Scott Settelmeyer, Managing Director of TerraCarbon LLC. “Pocosin wetlands store vast amounts of carbon in their waterlogged soils, which is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide if the wetland is ditched and drained. The new ACR methodology opens the door to new sources of funding for landowners to restore degraded pocosin wetlands and prevent future emissions of carbon dioxide.” 

“We appreciate ACR’s recognition of this pioneering effort by TNC and primary partners, including TerraCarbon and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to research and develop the methodology,” noted Chuck Peoples, Director of Conservation for the North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. “While there are ample opportunities for restoration of this important habitat, funding remains a limiting factor and the new ACR methodology provides additional incentive for landowners and project developers to take on critical projects.”

SAN FRANCISCO, April 5, 2018 – Last night, the American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, hosted its annual gala reception to recognize and thank its members and partners. ACR Director John Kadyszewski welcomed guests, presented highlights from the year and described the awards to be presented, including the individual Climate Leadership award as well as organizational awards based on ACR’s guiding principles of innovation, quality and excellence.

Kadyszewski presented ACR’s Climate Leadership award to environmentalist, entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken for a lifetime of practical leadership and thoughtful activism on policies that harmonize business and the environment, ecology and economics. His voice and range of engagements and collaborations continue to illuminate the grand imperative of climate action. Most recently, Project Drawdown (described in his best-selling book by the same name) has provided a blueprint to comprehensively address climate change with proven technologies and know-how. The quantification of GHG mitigation potential, alongside costs and savings, eviscerates the greatest barrier to action: entrenched economics that color GHG solutions as too costly. The code now cracked, policy and markets can advance the largest-scale, lowest-cost approaches vital to a habitable planet, and all solutions can be more appropriately applied.

“I am more than honored to receive this award from the American Carbon Registry,” said Hawken. “Like few other organizations, ACR has been far-sighted and visionary in its endeavor to restore climatic stability and reverse global warming by employing common sense and pragmatic economic solutions. It is a privilege to join other awardees who are reimagining what humanity can accomplish when we collaborate, innovate, and care about this miraculous world we share and call Earth.”

Airlines for America (A4A), the trade organization for the major U.S. passenger and cargo carriers, was honored with the ACR Commitment to Quality award for the organization’s leadership in helping to shape the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) GHG emissions reduction program and offsetting mechanism for airlines in a way that ensures quality, rigor and transparency.

Although ICAO’s 192 member states had long agreed to technology, operations and infrastructure measures to help address GHG emissions from international aviation, negotiations over a market-based measure (MBM) stalled for several years, leading to efforts by multiple countries to implement their own regulations or taxes on international aviation emissions. This helped spur ICAO to agree to a resolution in 2013 to develop a global MBM to support ICAO’s previously adopted goal for international aviation to achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020 onward. In 2016, only three years later, ICAO approved an Assembly Resolution setting out the terms for a global MBM for aviation, the first global sectoral approach of its kind, including a renewed commitment to achieve carbon neutral growth for international aviation starting in 2020. Currently 73 states representing over 88 percent of international aviation emissions have agreed to participate in the voluntary phases of the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) from 2020 through 2026, including the U.S. and China. The historic accord, which becomes mandatory in 2027 for all states other than the least developed countries and those with very low levels of international aviation activity, is projected to result in emissions reductions of more than 2.5 billion tonnes through 2035. CORSIA will be implemented under a set of ICAO standards and recommended practices that are up for adoption by the ICAO Council this year.

A4A played a critical role in supporting ICAO’s 2013 agreement to develop an MBM to complement technology, operational and infrastructure measures and in finalizing the negotiations for the 2016 ICAO resolution.  A4A continues to represent its members’ commitment to a single global agreement to support the ICAO-agreed emissions goals and avoid a patchwork of complex and costly regulations and taxes on international aviation. A4A has also played an important role in the development of CORSIA’s implementing provisions, ensuring environmental integrity and transparency in the carbon offset program.

“While the U.S. airlines have dramatically improved fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions by investing billions in fuel-saving aircraft and engines, innovative technologies like winglets and an array of operational and infrastructure measures, we are strong supporters of the ICAO CORSIA to complement these measures to achieve aviation’s internationally-agreed emissions goals,” stated Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs at A4A. “We are proud to work with governments, carbon market experts like ACR and the environmental NGO community to ensure CORSIA is implemented in an environmentally rigorous and practicable way.”

GreenTrees received ACR’s Innovation award in recognition of exceptional implementation of the world’s largest reforestation project both in terms of volume of high-quality verified emissions reductions issued and number of participating landowners and acres. The GreenTrees project is a one-million-acre conservation initiative that aims to plant over 500 million new trees for ecosystem repair and climate impact in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, North America’s largest rainforest and waterfowl migratory corridor. By partnering with close to 500 landowners on over 120,000 acres to date to reforest their degraded lands, GreenTrees has enhanced wildlife habitat, improved water and soil quality and delivered local economic development benefits in addition to generating over 2.5 million tonnes of verified carbon offsets for partners including Norfolk Southern, Duke Energy, United Airlines, Arbor Day Foundation, Blue Mountain Brewery and Skyway Air Taxi, among others.

“We highly value this award and thank the American Carbon Registry for its keen understanding of research and market-based programs, our corporate clients and carbon buyers for endorsing our work, our conservation community friends for their wonderful counsel over the years, and our landowners as partners. Their stake as equity brokers with us is the chief factor creating the prairie fire of steadily expanding healthy forest ecosystems, which is the leading reforestation co-benefit for our time,” said Jerry Van Voorhis, president and chief executive officer of GreenTrees. “We believe that ecosystem change in forestry alone will help bend the climate curve back most, replenish our earth, and let the tools of capitalism work for the greater good of the planet.”

The Corporate Excellence award was presented to Mars Food for the organization’s leadership role addressing climate change through its commitments to sustainable sourcing across its supply chains, notably rice. Rice is a food staple for half of the world’s peoples and accounts for 20 percent of the global population’s caloric intake. Mars Food is the maker of Uncle Ben’s, the world’s largest rice brand, therefore Mars’ commitment to sustainable rice production is essential. As a key partner of the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), co-convened in 2015 by the U.N. Environment Program and the International Rice Research Institute, Mars has pledged to source all its rice from farmers working toward the SRP by 2020. To meet this ambitious goal and to increase the quality of rice for millions of families for decades to come, Mars has invested in research and farmer education and is partnering with growers, NGOs and universities to transform the production of rice farms around the world to enhance water use, reduce GHG emissions, improve yields and increase incomes. Mars is working with almost 2,000 farmers in India and Pakistan, where their efforts have resulted in significant increase in farmer incomes and rice yields, and has similar programs in Cambodia and Thailand.

In the U.S., Mars Food is collaborating with Winrock, also an SRP member, to adapt the SRP for the U.S. and grow its base of U.S. sustainably-sourced rice. U.S. growers working with Mars include those who earned the first carbon offsets in the world from sustainable rice production, issued by ACR in 2017. Several of Mars’ supplier partners source from farmers applying such new techniques as Alternate Wetting and Drying, which has reduced GHG by 40 percent.

“We are proud to be honored with this award, but more importantly, we’re proud of the work Mars Food is doing in partnership with Winrock. At Mars, we believe it’s important that we grow in a way that’s not only good for our business, but also for people and the planet. That’s why we have prioritized creating shared benefits for rice growers and the environment, while also producing a high-quality rice crop for the billions of people who depend on it for nutrition and a livelihood,” said Denis Winkler, vice president of supply chain for global Mars Food.  “Our pilots with Basmati rice farmers in Pakistan show a 32 percent increase in farmer income and a 30 percent reduction in water used.  As we extend these programs across our supply chain, we have the potential to make a notable global impact.”

SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2017 – Last night, the American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, hosted its annual gala reception to recognize and thank its members and partners. ACR Director John Kadyszewski welcomed guests, presented highlights from the year and described the awards to be presented, including the individual Climate Leadership award as well as organizational awards based on ACR’s guiding principles of innovation, quality and excellence.

Kadyszewski presented ACR’s Climate Leadership award to Dr. Sandra Brown, Winrock senior scientist and former director of Winrock’s Ecosystem Services Group, for four decades of work advancing the understanding of the role forests play in the global carbon cycle. Brown, who passed away in February, led arguments in the international negotiations to include forest management and protection as critical tools to combat global climate change. Her science provided the foundation for the area of work now called REDD — Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. A celebrated international forest carbon expert, Brown published over 200 peer reviewed papers. She also knew how to achieve consensus and was notorious for her clarity of thinking and strong convictions. She was a critical member of the team recognized with the Nobel Prize in 2007, serving as a co-convening lead author on the contribution of forests, agriculture and other land uses to climate change for five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports. When she joined Winrock in 1998, Brown wanted to build a team that could apply her science to solving real world problems related to forests and climate change. She knew that many people depend on forests for their livelihoods and pioneered cost-effective methods for measurement, monitoring and verification (MRV) of carbon stored in forests so that landowners, communities, companies and governments could be compensated for the value of carbon services provided by forests and for preserving them.

When asked about the practical applications of her life’s work in a 2010 interview, Brown replied, “I’d like to see a country implement REDD at larger-than-project scale and get someone to finance the GHG reductions. This would demonstrate how to get a transaction done. I’d like to see that happen as evidence that we agree on the science, that the policy is in place, and that the market accepts that the reductions are good and real.”

As her last major endeavor, Brown and her team piloted a national forest carbon accounting system in Guyana to reduce deforestation. The rigorous MRV system resulted in almost $200 million in payments from Norway and established Guyana’s baseline forestry emissions. Consequently, Guyana was the first country in the world to submit a reference level to the UNFCCC that includes forest degradation, solidifying Guyana’s leadership role in REDD and Brown’s enduring legacy.

The Excellence award was presented to the state of Washington for leadership in fighting climate change through the newly adopted Clean Air Rule. ACR jointly recognized the office of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for directing the development of a regulatory cap on carbon emissions and the Department of Ecology for developing the rule under the state’s Clean Air Act. Under the landmark new rule, Washington businesses such as power plants, petroleum refiners and manufacturers of metal and cement, which are collectively responsible for two-thirds of carbon pollution in the state, are required to cap and reduce emissions starting in 2017. The cap will decline every three years through 2035, gradually covering more emitters. To meet their emissions reduction obligations, regulated entities can reduce emissions on-site, trade emissions reductions achieved beyond the cap, or use emissions reductions generated in the state from a wide variety of project categories, nine of which are cited ACR offset project types. Washington’s Clean Air Rule demonstrates that jurisdictions can effectively adopt carbon markets by leveraging existing infrastructure and streamlined processes.

“While creating one of the nation’s most vital economies, Washington state has always remained true to its reputation as an innovator and a leader in clean energy,” noted Gov. Inslee. “We’re proud to demonstrate that a powerful economy and a commitment to a low carbon, clean energy system go hand in hand, and we thank the American Carbon Registry for recognizing our latest efforts.”

The ACR Commitment to Quality award went to BP America, the last decade’s largest energy investor in the U.S., for the company’s role in the California offset market. Besides being a large compliance entity, BP has leveraged its experience in global carbon markets to help itself and others comply with the California regulation at the least cost and risk. BP America has developed and brought to market offset credits from over 60 projects to date, including forestry, ODS destruction and mine methane capture. These projects not only represent significant volumes of emissions reductions, but they also lead to long-term, sustainable economic development and opportunities for partners and the communities in which they operate. BP’s desire to provide high-quality offsets has made them a leader in the commercialization of Golden offsets, which provide assurance of quality and integrity to compliance entities. BP’s ability to provide Golden offsets reflects an involvement across all levels of their development.

“We aim to build deep and enduring relationships with governments, partners, customers and suppliers. These relationships, such as our long partnership with ACR, are key to our ability to provide high-quality products that also produce enormous benefits for our customers and for local communities,” said Enric Arderiu, Project Originator for BP’s Global Environmental Projects division.

The Innovation award was presented to the developers of two landmark methodologies, one for California wetland restoration and the other for the transition to low global warming potential foams.

ACR honored the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy as the lead agency, HydroFocus as the lead author and both U.C. Berkeley and Tierra Resources for technical support for the development of the methodology for the Restoration of California Deltaic and Coastal Wetlands. Funding for the methodology was provided by the California Coastal Conservancy, Department of Water Resources, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Metropolitan Water District and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD).

In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 90 percent of historic tidal wetlands disappeared in the last 150 years. Over 2.5 billion cubic meters of organic soils have disappeared since delta islands were first diked and drained for agriculture in the late 1800s, resulting in land subsidence up to 25 feet below sea level. Drained and cultivated organic soils in the delta continue to oxidize, subside and emit an estimated one to two million metric tons of CO2-equivalent annually — equal to annual emissions from over 300,000 passenger vehicles.

“We have been pleased to work with ACR and other partners on this methodology and appreciate the recognition,” said Steve Deverel, president of HydroFocus. “Restoration activities that rebuild subsided lands are critical to long-term ecosystem sustainability, are important to reducing the risk of levy failure and sea level rise, and are a significant source of GHG emissions reductions.”

“State and federal funding remains insufficient to address land subsidence that threatens the California water system, and carbon market revenues could help fill the funding gap,” added Campbell Ingram, executive officer of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. ”The new ACR methodology provides an incentive to landowners in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Suisun Marsh and other historically natural wetland areas in California to convert their most subsided and marginal agricultural lands to wetlands, or to produce wetlands crops such as rice, which will stop land subsidence and reverse it over time.””

ACR honored Dentons U.S. for the development of the methodology for the Transition to Advanced Formulation Blowing Agents in Foam Manufacturing and Use.  Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which have global warming potentials (GWPs) up to 4,000 times higher than CO2, are commonly used blowing agents that are released during manufacture, use and at end-of-life of foams. Foam blowing agents are used in numerous applications, including refrigerators and freezers; industrial refrigeration systems and refrigerated transport; boats and buoys; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. HFCs are also considered short-lived climate pollutants, so mitigating emissions of HFC is important for limiting near-term climate impacts. Alternatives to HFC-based blowing agents are available but are not commonly used in the foam manufacturing industry due to cost and other challenges. The new methodology is intended to provide access to carbon finance to increase uptake of available advanced technologies and accelerate a transition to low-GWP blowing agents. It also supports California’s goal of reducing HFCs by 40 percent below 2013 levels by 2030, a goal that will require the innovation exemplified in this methodology.

“Innovation is one of Dentons’ driving principles, and when our client Foam Supplies asked us to help develop this forward-thinking methodology, it aligned perfectly with our desire to provide new solutions not only for our clients, but also for the industries in which we serve,” said Jeffrey Fort, partner at Dentons and method co-author. “Following its rigorous peer review and public comment process, we are honored to have our hard work recognized by the American Carbon Registry. This methodology not only supports California’s ambitious climate goals, but also provides a new approach to help supply chains remain lean and green.”

SAN DIEGO, May 5, 2016 – Last night, the American Carbon Registry (ACR), a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, hosted its annual gala reception to recognize and thank its members and partners. ACR Director John Kadyszewski welcomed guests and presented highlights from the year. He described the awards to be presented to recognize outstanding environmental achievements including the individual Climate Leadership award, as well as corporate awards based on ACR’s guiding principles of innovation, quality and excellence.

Kadyszewski presented ACR’s Climate Leadership award to Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change from 2009 to 2016 in recognition of his leadership, insight and singular determination to secure international commitments to combat climate change. As the apex of seven years of persistence and diplomacy on a global climate deal, Todd played a pivotal role leading up to and in Paris of securing the agreement of nearly 200 nations to commit to holding global warming to below two degrees Celsius and to transparently submit their national contributions to this goal for review by the rest of the world. To build consensus from Copenhagen to Paris on a new climate deal was an achievement that required Todd to skillfully navigate domestic and international politics and to build confidence and ambitions of nations. The United States’ bilateral agreement with China in November 2014 was hailed as a catalytic event that built momentum for other countries to make similar pledges in Paris. The result of these accomplishments is meaningful, not only to send an uncontestable message that the countries of the world are united in transforming to a low carbon economy, but to create a framework to incentivize further actions that can be taken up by both the private and public sectors.

“I am honored to receive this award from the American Carbon Registry,” stated Stern. “Paris was a landmark agreement and the culmination of a huge team effort over many years. It reflects broad buy-in, strong ambition and transparency and puts a structure in place that now allows us to try to greatly accelerate the transformation from high to low carbon economies. Every tool we can use to advance that objective is essential and carbon markets have a very important role to play.  I salute ACR for being a leader in this field and for doing the hard work that make it possible for carbon markets to have environmental integrity.”

The ACR Innovation award was presented to EOS Climate for the company’s development of the groundbreaking ACR approved offset methodology for the use of certified reclaimed HFC refrigerants and advanced refrigeration systems. U.S. industry made commitments at a White House event late last year to leverage the methodology to realize HFC emissions reductions under the U.N. Global Refrigerant Management Initiative, which will reduce global HFC emissions by 30 to 50 percent in 10 years. Last week, ACR issued the first verified carbon credits to EOS Climate for the reclamation and re-use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants.

“We are honored by this recognition from ACR. Controlling HFC emissions has become a priority for governments and businesses around the world,” stated Jeff Cohen, Senior Vice President of EOS Climate. “This new methodology directly incentivizes deployment of advanced climate-friendly commercial refrigeration technologies, as well as the recovery, reclamation, and re-use of HFC refrigerants, preventing powerful GHG emissions. ACR has been a great organization to work with on our ODS projects, and likewise, forward thinking and technically superb in establishing this methodology. By reducing the aggregate quantity of HFC production required during the transition to alternative refrigerants, we see this new methodology as an immediate, market-based complement to regulatory efforts to phase down HFCs.”

The ACR Commitment to Quality award went to Mid-South rice farms Whitaker Farms, Isbell Farms and Sullivan Farms, which have collectively formed the sustainable rice alliance Nature’s Stewards, in addition to Wolf Creek Farms and Murrell Farms. The farms were all honored for their work to improve rice production systems and to earn the first carbon offsets from low emission rice production. Since 2012, these farms have been dedicated to testing methods and measuring results for reducing GHG emissions and water usage under the ACR offset methodology for Emissions Reductions in Rice Management Systems. The methodology specifies requirements to measure reductions in methane, a GHG 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The first rice offset credits will be issued this summer, and the farms plan to verify emissions reductions this growing season for the California compliance offset market.

The Nature’s Stewards farms also plan to be the first rice producers in the world to be certified as sustainable under a new U.S. Sustainable Rice Certification Standard in development by Winrock and the American Carbon Registry to be launched this summer under a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant. The sustainability certification will require independent verification of a range of sustainability criteria and practices for food safety, GHG emissions, water use, fertilizer use, biodiversity, and labor practices.

“Conservation and environmental stewardship is a collaborative effort, and we are grateful for the researchers, organizations, and fellow farmers that we learn from,” said Mark Isbell on behalf of Nature’s Stewards LLC. “We are grateful to ACR and Winrock International for this honor and look forward to working together as we build on the work of the past and grow toward a greener future.”

The ACR Corporate Excellence award was presented to Microsoft for the company’s leadership in setting an internal price on carbon in order to achieve 100 percent carbon neutrality while driving company-wide efficiency and innovation. The fee works by making the cost to achieve carbon neutrality a line item in the operating budgets of Microsoft’s business units across more than 100 countries, establishing a powerful incentive for each group to find lower-carbon alternatives and to invest in carbon-saving initiatives and innovations.

This simple, replicable carbon fee model has demonstrated impressive results. Since 2012, the program has generated more than $48 million for investments in efficiency, green power and carbon offset community projects that have collectively reduced the company’s emissions by 9.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. To date, Microsoft has purchased more than 14 billion kilowatt hours of green power and helped reach more than 6 million people globally through carbon offset community projects that support low-carbon economic development and sustainable livelihoods.

“We are honored to receive this award recognizing Microsoft’s internal carbon fee, which has been a catalyst for driving sustainability, innovation and efficiency across our company,” said TJ DiCaprio, Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability, Microsoft. “The carbon fee program has helped Microsoft reduce our overall carbon emissions by more than 9.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Through the funds raised, we are proud to support a portfolio of more than 30 carbon offset community projects around the world, including reforestation activities in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.”