Who we are
Who trusts us
What we offer
How we create environmental assets
How we add value
Our qualifications and experience

Who We Are

The American Carbon Registry® is a leading non-profit U.S. carbon market registry As the first private voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry in the U.S., the American Carbon Registry boasts time-tested integrity in high quality carbon offset registration and carbon technical services.

In 1996, market-oriented environmental experts at the Environmental Defense Fund founded the Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) and launched the GHG Registry, now known as the American Carbon Registry. The American Carbon Registry and Environmental Resources Trust joined Winrock International in 2007, expanding the Winrock team of climate change, forestry, clean energy, agriculture, and carbon market experts.

Who Trusts Us

Today, the American Carbon Registry is one of the largest and most respected online registries in the U.S. voluntary and pre-compliance carbon markets. A host of Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profit organizations and mission-driven institutions trust us with their carbon accounting and registry needs.

We work with major U.S. companies in key emitting sectors as well as with companies with corporate social responsibility objectives, providing the entire spectrum of carbon technical services for greenhouse gas accounting, protocol development, offset and corporate GHG inventory registration and over-the-counter (OTC) offset transactions and retirements.

For information on members and membership please go to our membership page.

What We Offer

for Members to transparently register serialized offsets as well as record the purchase, sale and retirement of project-based offsets, branded as Emission Reduction Tons (“ERTs”). One “ERT” represents the reduction or removal from the atmosphere equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide.  

Members can also report their verified corporate GHG inventories (“carbon footprint”) and corporate emissions reductions on the Registry. 

The American Carbon Registry’s services include:  

Asset / "ERT" Creation

• Offset quality scoring service
• Offset registration
• Serialization and tracking

Registry & Market Services

• Development of carbon offset standards, methodologies and tools
• Over-the-counter (OTC) transaction facilitation
• Transparent retirement
• Corporate inventory reporting
• Anonymous holding accounts

Technical Services provided by ERT-Winrock

• GHG / carbon strategic advisory services
• Methodology validation
• Organizational GHG inventory preparation

For more information on membership and registry services pricing, please go to our membership page.

For more information on pricing for technical services, please call or send us an email via our on-line contact form

How We Create Environmental Assets

A carbon offset becomes an Emissions Reduction Ton (“ERT”) when we have determined that a reduction or removal is real, additional, permanent, that ownership is incontestable, and that no leakage takes place elsewhere in the environment. An “ERT” becomes a tradable environmental asset once the Registry assigns each offset a unique serial number, and posts the “ERT” in the Member’s account. On paper the asset exists as a certificate with the serial numbers, total tonnage, verifier name and signature, and information on project location, owner name and address, and vintage year.

In order to ensure the high quality of offsets, the American Carbon Registry accepts only projects that meet our offset eligibility criteria and are independently verified against the American Carbon Registry’s published standards.  The Registry, however, allows Members the flexibility to choose among other specific methodologies and tools for GHG measurement from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). Members may use these approved methodologies in compliance with American Carbon Registry standards.

The American Carbon Registry promotes innovation to bring new offset types to market. If we have not published a methodology for a project type or if one does not yet exist, the project developer may submit the proposed methodology to the Registry for validation. Alternatively, the developer may work directly with the Registry to design and evaluate new methodologies. Upon validation, the American Carbon Registry may publish the methodology for future use.

How We Add Value

Transparency, clear ownership and environmental integrity drive today’s U.S. voluntary and pre-compliance carbon markets. The American Carbon Registry offers trusted solutions to the carbon market, promising to register only the highest quality offsets. Our published standards exceed industry standards on environmental quality while providing clear evidence of additionality and environmental co-benefits.

The American Carbon Registry provides the transparency often lacking in today’s market with regard to publically accessible carbon offset registration information, including reporting the standards used to quantify and qualify the offsets, as well as corporate inventory and carbon transactions reporting. Our double entry accounting framework and online transaction log guard against double counting and double selling of offsets in the marketplace.

The Registry brand is the imprimatur of low risk and high quality. We add value by helping Members to position themselves in the voluntary market and to earn early-action credit towards future federal and international GHG regulatory programs. 

Our Qualifications & Experience

Members of Winrock staff who oversee the Registry include two co-Nobel Peace Prize recipients for their contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Team members are leaders in clean energy, methane capture, agriculture practices, land use change, afforestation, reforestation, forest management and avoided deforestation as well as scientists, ecologists, economists, policy analysts and business professionals. They have co-authored carbon project protocols for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 1605(b) program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the California Energy Commission (CEC), the World Bank, the International Tropical Timber Organization, United Nations organizations, the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR), among others.   

The American Carbon Registry and ERT-Winrock are leaders in developing and verifying corporate inventories (“carbon footprints”). In 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency commissioned ERT to develop the U.S. federal government’s guidelines on corporate GHG accounting. The document entitled Corporate GHG Verification Guideline (2005) is available for download on the American Carbon Registry website.

The American Carbon Registry is also a leader in supporting emissions trading in the U.S. voluntary carbon market. In 1998, the Registry facilitated the world’s first international emissions trade between Niagara Mohawk and Suncor Energy. Since then we have registered over 30 million project-based carbon offsets and facilitated trading and retirement of over seven (7) million tons. Please see our Carbon Registry page for the most up-to-date information.