Forest Project issued 836,619 carbon credits
In April, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) issued the first carbon credits to a project developed under the Compliance Offset Protocol for US Forests.
The Improved Forest Management (IFM) project received over 836,000 carbon credits for implementing new management practices that encourage the continued growth of the property’s woodlands. Sustainable harvesting will be permitted on the roughly 7,600 acre project area as long as the overall carbon stocks continue to rise.
Carbon credits can be used by regulated businesses in California that are required to account for the annual emissions of their operations. Electric utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, as well as industry leaders like Shell, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Phillips66 have all expressed interest in purchasing carbon credits to help offset their emissions.
Carbon credits can be used to meet up to 8% of a company’s compliance obligation, creating the demand for up to 26 million credits by the end of this year, but only 7.5 million have been issued by the ARB so far.
Forest carbon projects are expected to provide the bulk supply since they generate such large quantities of carbon credits, and they provide landowners with an opportunity to conserve their property for recreational purposes like hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking, while still generating millions of dollars from the sale of carbon credits.