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With the rise in awareness and concern about the effects of climate change, voluntary carbon offset programs have begun to proliferate in the United States and around the world. Such programs vary greatly in terms of their methodologies and offerings.
There are many different types of carbon offset programs. We are providing answers to frequently asked questions so that you can understand exactly what TNC’s voluntary carbon offset program is about. If you have any additional questions, concerns, or comments about the offset program, please don’t hesitate to contact us and tell us what you think about climate change, forest carbon projects, and the carbon market.
How can I be sure these projects are sequestering and preventing the release of the amount of carbon you say they are?
What exactly are the voluntary carbon offsets The Nature Conservancy is offering?
Will voluntary carbon offsets solve climate change?
Do my offset contributions support a particular project?
Why do different offset programs charge different amounts for a ton of carbon?
I’ve heard carbon offsets don’t really help mitigate climate change. Why should I contribute to a carbon offset program?
Are these offsets verified by a third-party? What type of standards are you following?
I’ve heard that planting trees, particularly in temperate areas, is not a good way to offset carbon emissions. Is this true?
Why are you seeking contributions today for forest carbon projects in which the carbon offsets will be created over future years?
Are these the same as offsets that could be used by companies in the cap-and-trade bills Congress is considering to place mandatory limits on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions?
How can I be sure that the carbon that you say you will capture over 70 years will really be stored?
Is the Conservancy committed to the projects in the offset program far into the future?
What happens if the forest burns down?
Won’t forest offsets distract us from fossil fuel emissions reductions?
How would passage of a cap-and-trade bill to limit greenhouse gas emissions change the carbon market?
How can I be sure these projects are capturing and storing and preventing the release of the amount of carbon you say they are?
In order for a forest carbon project to help reduce the build up of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change, it must address certain issues, including:
- Additionality, which refers to the amount of carbon dioxide captured, stored or prevented from reaching the atmosphere compared to what would happen without the project. In other words, is this something that would have happened anyway?
- Measurement and monitoring, which entails periodic field measurements of forest growth and associated capture and storage of carbon.
- Leakage, which occurs when emissions avoided within a site are not eliminated, but rather displaced to another location, or when carbon capture and storage at a site leads to land clearing elsewhere.
- Permanence, which, simply stated, is the life of the project. It wouldn’t help to reduce climate change much if a tree were planted one year only to be cut the next. The most desirable forest carbon projects are those where the restored and protected forests are likely to remain intact indefinitely.
- Verification, which occurs throughout the life of a project to ensure it meets its intended goals of carbon capture and storage and that all additionality, measurement, leakage and permanence requirements are being met.
The projects in the Conservancy’s offset program address these issues in the following ways:
- Additionality -- The forest protection and restoration projects The Nature Conservancy carries out are not business-as-usual activities. In each project we calculate the carbon storage that would have occurred without the project (known as the baseline carbon storage or the carbon storage in the business-as-usual scenario) and subtract that from the carbon benefits. A third party verifies that the project is not a business-as-usual activity and the calculation of the baseline carbon storage.
- Measurement and monitoring – Field measurements of forest growth will be undertaken, and will be based upon well-established forest inventory and scientific principles. These measurements will be made available for review.
- Leakage – The Nature Conservancy will target projects that will minimize the likelihood of shifting carbon emissions elsewhere. For example we focus our forest restoration projects on unproductive crop or grazing land, where native trees will grow very well, so relatively little activity will be displaced. The Conservancy will also discount carbon sequestered from offset projects from the outset in order to account for leakage that may occur.
- Permanence — The Conservancy is putting into place several safeguards to protect the carbon stored in these forests now and into the future. We will maintain a conservation easement or similar protections on all carbon offset projects. This will require that the land will remain forested for future generations.
In addition, the Conservancy is withholding a percentage of the carbon benefits from each project entered into the carbon offset program, and will not take offset contributions related to these benefits. This is designed to make up for any natural damage that could occur to the project down the road.
For instance, if trees are damaged or killed in an ice storm, or another natural event, offsets in the reserve will essentially replace them within the offset program. This reserve will also provide protection if the project does not meet the expected carbon sequestration performance goals.
- Verification – Every year, local Conservancy stewardship staff will ensure that the projects are being implemented successfully. Staff will measure carbon storage for every project within the voluntary carbon offset program for its expected carbon capture and storage goals. Our carbon measurements, along with our calculations for baseline carbon storage, leakage of carbon benefits, and reserves to buffer for potential reversals of carbon storage will be independently verified. Contributors to the voluntary carbon offset program will receive regular reports from these monitoring and verification activities – as well as any other news regarding the program – as it is warranted. .
What exactly are the carbon offsets The Nature Conservancy is offering?
By contributing to the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program you are helping fund Nature Conservancy projects that are specifically designed to prevent the emissions of and capture and store carbon and thus, help reduce the build up of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. When you make a contribution, your money will be used to set aside land, provide funds for forest conservation, plant trees and measure and verify the amount of carbon captured and stored over the next 70 years, by when the forest will have matured. Your contribution will support the investment necessary to protect land and plant trees that will grow and capture and store your carbon offset over the course of 70 years.
Through our voluntary carbon offset program you are given the option of making this contribution in a way that is commensurate with our scientific estimates of the amount of carbon captured and stored as a result of efforts we undertake with your contribution. By using The Conservancy’s carbon footprint calculator, you can measure your “carbon footprint” (how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your lifestyle creates each year), and then contribute to offset all or a portion of that carbon footprint through the Conservancy’s program.
Users may choose to contribute to offset only a portion of their carbon footprint, or choose to contribute to the voluntary carbon offset program through monthly installments.
The Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offsets are not the same as the offsets that businesses could use if the U.S. takes the important step of enacting mandatory policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Read more about this here.
Remember that the first and most important step we can take to help fight climate change is to make choices that will reduce our overall emissions. But voluntary carbon offsets are a supplemental way of making a difference that can further help reduce the build up of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.
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Will voluntary carbon offsets alone solve climate change?
No one program alone can solve climate change.. Carbon offsets are a part of the comprehensive changes individuals must make to begin reducing the build up of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. The best thing we can do to help fight climate change is to make choices about our homes, our travel, the food we eat, and what we buy and throw away that will reduce our overall emissions.
By contributing to the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program you will be joining with a community of individuals to attempt to make a difference in the build up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
It is important to remember that the voluntary carbon offsets from this program will take about 70 years to come to full fruition, because the carbon is stored gradually as trees grow and mature. So the carbon you offset this year will be captured and stored gradually over the course of 70 years. This is one of the reasons why making personal decisions to reduce your emissions now is critical.
Do my offset contributions help support actual projects?
Yes, all contributions to the voluntary carbon offset program benefit real on-the-ground conservation projects with verifiable carbon offset benefits. The first project in the voluntary carbon offset program is the Tensas River Basin Project in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. For the project, the Conservancy is reforesting private lands to capture and store carbon and restore critical habitat to native species. This project is part of an area that is important for conservation. It contains one of the largest remaining fragments of bottomland hardwood forest, supports the largest known population of Louisiana Black Bear, and contains several priority bird conservation areas.
You can find out more details about the Tensas River Basin Project by reading our project profile. We will be providing similar information and profiles on new projects as they are added to the voluntary carbon offset program. As the voluntary carbon offset program grows we will be adding additional projects in new geographies to the program.
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Why do different offset programs charge different amounts for a ton of carbon dioxide?
The amount charged by an offset program may differ for various reasons such as how the carbon benefits are quantified.
When comparing the Conservancy’s offset costs to those of other offset programs, it is important to take into account the standards of both programs and how that will affect costs. The offsets the Conservancy is offering include the various protections described in this document to ensure that the full amount of carbon dioxide offsets that are being set aside for you will be realized. The Conservancy has taken pains to ensure that our offsets meet very exacting quality standards. As part of this assurance, we are withholding a substantial portion of the offsets in order to account for deductions for leakage estimates and permanence reserves. In the case of the Tensas River Basin Project, this withholding amounts to 40 percent. We have figured the cost of this reserve into the amount of the contribution per offset we are seeking.
The Nature Conservancy has set its contribution amounts based on the costs to our organization of implementing the projects. These costs are primarily the cost of setting land aside for this practice, and the cost of planting and protecting the trees. We also include the much smaller costs of project management, and measuring and verifying the amount of carbon stored.
Finally, The Conservancy’s carbon footprint calculator provides users with their carbon footprint measured in US short tons, while much of the carbon market standard measures carbon dioxide in metric tons. Our carbon offsets are priced per US short ton of carbon dioxide equivalent to be consistent with our carbon footprint calculator. This results in a slightly lower cost per ton than if our carbon offsets were denominated in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
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I’ve heard carbon offsets don’t really help mitigate climate change. Why should I contribute to the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program?
Contributing to the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program will have a verifiable impact on reducing the build up of greenhouse gases, and will help restore and protect critical habitat across the country and around the world.
Because there is not a common standard for the voluntary carbon offset market the quality of offsets can vary widely. This variance has led to increased scrutiny and skepticism, and we agree that there are concerns that can and must be addressed to produce verifiable offsets. The Nature Conservancy’s carbon offset program produces verifiable reductions in greenhouse gases. These projects are critically important to establishing confidence in markets where forests are valued for the greenhouse gases they store and the habitats and natural services – such as healthy watersheds -- they provide. In developing this program, we have done significant work to assure that the offsets we offer meet exceptionally high standards of quality.
However, contributing to a carbon offset program is not an adequate substitute for making lifestyle changes that will significantly reduce the emissions your activities produce.
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Are these offsets verified by a third-party? What type of standards are you following?
The Conservancy program has been designed and implemented by climate change and forest experts with years of experience analyzing, measuring and verifying forest carbon projects. Staff will measure carbon storage for every project within the voluntary carbon offset program for its expected carbon capture and storage performance goals, account for leakage of carbon benefits, and maintain a reserve to buffer for carbon losses. The measurements and accounting will be independently verified. All carbon offsets in this program will be retired, so they cannot be double counted.
I’ve heard that planting trees, particularly in temperate areas, is not a good way to offset carbon emissions. Is this true?
The loss of forests and other land use changes contribute about one-fifth of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released into Earth’s atmosphere each year. Therefore, forest protection and restoration are a necessary and important part of any comprehensive approach to decreasing atmospheric CO2 levels and reducing the impacts of climate change. Tree planting is an important strategy in restoring forests around the world. We are simply replanting native forests where they naturally occur.
As for temperate zone projects, an initial study(2), while preliminary in nature, has found that the impact of reforestation on global temperatures may vary depending upon the latitude or distance from the equator. The authors of this albedo effect(3) study agree that trees are an effective means for sequestering carbon. In the lower latitudes of the tropics, replanting forests offers a significant global cooling benefit. However, at higher latitudes such as in the northern boreal areas, the climate change benefits from planting trees where trees currently do not exist could be much less than expected because of local warming that would happen when the sun's heat is absorbed by the darker forest canopy, rather than reflected by snow on the ground in the tree-less areas of these northern regions.
Within the voluntary carbon offset program, the reforestation projects that are located in temperate zones are located in the lower latitudes of the temperate zone, near 30 degrees, with no snowfall. The study’s authors agree that forests in areas without a significant amount of seasonal snow cover are generally likely to exert a net cooling influence.
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Why are you seeking contributions today for forest carbon projects in which the carbon offsets will be created over future years?
Project economics and forest biology dictate that over 80 percent of the costs of these projects is incurred in the first few years, while the carbon benefits are realized over a longer period of time. Carbon projects with large up front costs, such as forest carbon projects, are not attractive to developers, because it would take too long to recover their investments, and the amount of recovery would be highly uncertain, because there currently is no generally established market “price” for carbon in the United States. Thus in today’s carbon market, carbon that has already been captured and stored would most easily come from projects engaging in business-as-usual activities, bringing up questions of the additionality of the carbon benefits.
In the context of today’s voluntary market, taking contributions today to create a future stream of offsets is a way to fund the up front costs of activities that are not business-as-usual – a key point for additionality. Consequently, many voluntary carbon offset providers market carbon benefits that will accrue over future years.
The Nature Conservancy feels it is imperative to be completely transparent about voluntary carbon offset programs in which contributions are sought today for carbon offsets are created over future years. For this reason we have included the following language throughout our voluntary carbon offset program materials to draw attention to this feature of our program:
Your contribution will support the investment necessary to protect land and plant trees that will grow, capture and store your carbon offset over the course of 70 years.
By contrast, in a compliance (non-voluntary) market, such as under a cap-and-trade system, carbon offset credits should be awarded only after the carbon capture and storage has occurred and been verified. This ensures that verified carbon captured and stored and emissions prevented is offsetting, in the same timeframe, other emissions. Go to here for more information on the difference between voluntary and compliance approaches to carbon offsets.
A cap-and-trade law and system would provide a long term signal to the market that storing and reducing carbon dioxide emissions will have increasing value over time. Such a market signal is needed to drive forest carbon projects like these. Once a long term carbon price signal is in place, it is likely that more investors will provide the up front financing needed to start forest carbon projects like these with the expectation that they will recoup their costs through subsequent sales of carbon credits. Until a compliance system is in place, few investors are willing to take this financial risk.
Are these the same as offsets that could be used by companies in the cap-and-trade bills Congress is considering to place mandatory limits on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions?
The voluntary carbon offsets we are offering are very similar, but not exactly the same as the offsets that could be used under these bills. The Conservancy’s program addresses additionality, measurement, leakage, and verification in ways that are similar to the kinds of approaches that we are suggesting for policy. The differences between these offsets and those that could be used under cap-and-trade bills relate primarily to the timing of crediting offset activities under a cap-and-trade system and the liability that would be established under a mandatory program to ensure that offsets represent permanent reductions.
We are assigning your contribution to the amount of carbon dioxide that we anticipate will be captured and stored over 70 years after taking into account natural risks, leakage, and using the best scientific information at hand to predict forest growth. Similarly, a company might invest up front in return for rights to offsets generated over time. In either case we would monitor forest growth using sound scientific methods, and have that growth and all additionality, leakage and permanence calculations verified by independent experts. In a regulatory environment with crediting, credits would be awarded only after the forest growth and accounting deductions (to address leakage and permanence) were verified. This maintains the integrity of the mandatory emissions limits by ensuring that verified carbon captured and stored and emissions prevented is offsetting, in the same timeframe, other emissions that are controlled under the cap.
In a voluntary market, the lack of mandatory policies means that the long term demand for offsets are less clear to a potential investor. Thus, developing forest carbon projects for the voluntary market requires a different model than would operate in the market that could be created by cap-and-trade legislation.
With regard to the potential of reversals of carbon benefits that applies to forest carbon projects, we have gone to great lengths to self-insure by placing offsets in a reserve to account for natural risks over time, but there is the possibility that losses could exceed those from this reserve. In a cap-and-trade system, if that were to happen either the buyer or the seller of the offsets would need to be held responsible for making up for the losses.
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How can I be sure that the carbon that you say you will capture over 70 years will really be stored?
First, we have used the best available forest science, and conducted new research on forest growth in the project area, to develop a very sound estimate of the amount of carbon that will be captured and stored over 70 years after taking into account natural risks, and leakage. We believe this number is conservative. Our studies indicate that in fact the project may reach the amount needed to offset your emissions as early as 50 years after planting, even after placing offsets into a buffer to protect against leakage and permanence risks. If there are no losses to permanence risks, or the project otherwise performs better than our projections, your emissions could be offset earlier. In that case your contribution may offset even more carbon dioxide emissions than you intended.
Second, we are conducting forest monitoring to determine the amount of carbon stored in the projects.
Finally, The Conservancy holds a permanent easement or similar protections on the projects that will restrict future use of the land to maintain forests.
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Is the Conservancy committed to the projects in the offset program far into the future?
Yes. The Conservancy will maintain a commitment to these projects by holding and monitoring permanent conservation easements or similar protections that legally protect the land and the forests, and will measure the carbon capture and storage of the forests. All projects entered into the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program will remain as natural, forested landscapes even after they have met their carbon sequestration goals.
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What happens if the forest burns down?
To help protect the program against this limited risk, the Conservancy is withholding a percentage of the carbon offsets from each project entered into the voluntary carbon offset program, and will not take offset contributions related to these “set-asides.” These offsets are pooled together to create a reserve for the overall program and provide a safeguard against catastrophic loss in any one project within the program. This strategy is required by the Voluntary Carbon Standard, and will be applied to the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program. In the extremely unlikely case that a project suffers from a catastrophic loss, such as a fire, part of the reserve pool will be used to cover the loss.
In the early stages of the voluntary carbon offset program, the Conservancy has built replanting into the budget of each project should the restoration work be hampered by a drought or other factor. Given our conservative estimates of forest growth, mortality in the first 5 to 10 years of the project should not prevent us from meeting our goals of offsetting emissions within 70 years.
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Won’t forest carbon offsets distract us from fossil fuel emissions reductions?
The Conservancy believes that reducing fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions is critical to stemming the effects of climate change. We work with governments at state, federal, and international levels to enact laws that would reduce emission levels from all major economic sectors responsible for carbon emissions, including energy, transportation and deforestation.
However, we also recognize that deforestation produces as much as 20 percent of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore forest conservation and restoration must play a meaningful role in any successful effort to avoid dangerous climate change. The Conservancy has unique expertise in reducing emissions from deforestation, and has concentrated much of its efforts to fight climate change in this area. Our voluntary carbon offset program is just one example of this work.
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How would passage of a cap-and-trade bill to limit greenhouse gas emissions change the carbon market?
The current market in which we are offering these offsets is a voluntary market. Contributors to offset programs do so as concerned citizens who want to make a difference in helping to avoid dangerous climate change. Voluntary action is an important avenue that can help to address this far-reaching challenge, but it will not be possible to meet a test of the magnitude posed by climate change without concerted action by businesses and governments, as well as individuals.
Legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions using the market-based “cap-and-trade” approach is currently under consideration in the Congress, in many states, and internationally. Some states, for example, in the Northeast, have recently adopted such a program to control emissions from electric power generation. Enacting these programs will send a price signal to the market that will place a value on greenhouse gas emission reductions and carbon capture and storage. Pricing carbon in this way will direct investments toward a host of activities such as improved energy efficiency, low-carbon technology, and forest conservation and restoration. Without a price on carbon to assure a return on their investment, those who would like to engage in these activities will find it difficult in many cases to attract financing.
Passage of cap-and-trade legislation in the U.S. and more comprehensive coverage of emissions internationally will create a new compliance market that will cover many sources of emissions. Individuals may still wish to offset their emissions and thus it is likely that a voluntary market like the current one would remain, though it is possible that regulatory standards would be set for these markets also.
Depending on how it is designed, such a compliance carbon market could drive billions of dollars per year to forest conservation and restoration in landscapes such as the Lower Mississippi River Valley, the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests of Brazil, and East Kalimantan in Indonesia, helping to protect and restore millions of acres. The Conservancy’s forest carbon offset program is helping to set the stage for such an outcome by demonstrating how forest carbon offsets can work.
1. Murray, B.C., B.A. McCarl, and H. Lee. 2004. “Estimating Leakage from Forest Carbon Sequestration Programs.” Land Economics 80(1):109-124
2. Gibbard, S., K. Caldeira, G. Bala, T.J. Phillips, and M. Wicket. 2005. Climate effects of global land cover change. Geophysical Research Letters. 32. L23705.
3. Albedo refers to the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface, which varies depending on the type of land cover or water surface present.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Byron Jorjorian (oak tree); Photo © Byron Jorjorian (cypress tree).
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