Frequently Asked Questions

How is the American Carbon Registry different from other US Registries?
What carbon accounting standards does the Registry accept?
How does the Registry ensure quality?
How do I submit a project for offset registration?
How do I submit a corporate inventory for registration?
 

How is the American Carbon Registry different from other US Registries?

The American Carbon Registry is different from other US carbon registries in three primary ways:

• Access to in-house Winrock carbon and sector expertise
• Capacity for technical leadership on new methodologies
• Time tested integrity

In-house expertise

The Registry relies on Winrock and ERT to develop the sector-specific carbon accounting standards and methodologies which provide the Registry’s foundation for offset quality. A key differentiator of the American Carbon Registry from others is our access to Winrock’s internationally recognized team and its depth and breadth of technical experience in carbon accounting as well as its sector-specific scientific expertise, specifically in forestry, agriculture and clean energy.
 
No other Registry in the US has the in-house technical knowledge and capability that Winrock provides in this area, which is why team members have been engaged by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) among others to co-author standards and methodologies and review carbon projects. This in-house expertise allows us to be more flexible and efficient in helping bring high quality offsets to market. 

Winrock and ERT team members include three co-Nobel prize winners for their contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), three co-authors of IPCC methodologies and leaders in clean energy, methane capture,  biofuels, agriculture practices, nitrogen management, land use change, afforestation, reforestation, forest management and avoided deforestation as well as scientists, ecologists, economists, policy analysts and business professionals. In addition to those mentioned above, team members have been participants in standards and methodologies manuals and publications and co-authored protocols for DOE 1605(b) program, the World Bank, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the California Climate Action Registry, and United Nations organizations.    

Capacity for technical leadership on new methodologies

Because the Registry has access to Winrock’s in-house technical expertise, we are not only able to develop high quality standards, but we are able to evaluate other existing standards and methodologies that meet our quality criteria. This allows us to be flexible with regard to what methodologies we accept for offset project accounting. This is a key differentiator from other Registries who will only register projects that follow their specific standards.
 
Access to in-house expertise also allows us to be innovative and take the lead in bringing new methodologies to market more quickly. We don’t have to rely on lengthy consultation processes to understand critical characteristics important to quality and can apply time-tested peer-review practices to assure scientific consensus. We develop new methodologies based on best scientific practices and field experience and present results in peer-reviewed publications.

Time-tested integrity

As the first private voluntary greenhouse gas registry in the U.S., the American Carbon Registry boasts time-tested integrity in high quality carbon offset registration and carbon technical services. The Registry was founded in 1997 as the GHG Registry by the Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Resources Trust (ERT). The American Carbon Registry and ERT joined Winrock International in 2007, expanding the Winrock team of climate change, forestry, clean energy, agriculture, and carbon market experts.

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 have registered over 25 million offsets, facilitated trading of millions of offsets and established retirement accounts for over one million offsets.

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 lead 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. 
 

What carbon accounting standards does the Registry accept?

The Registry has published the American Carbon Registry Technical Standard, which outlines the eligibility requirements for registration of project-based carbon offsets.  In process of publication is the American Carbon Registry Standard, which details the GHG accounting principles, requirement for methodology validation and verification and other procedural requirements and information on general use of the American Carbon Registry.
 
In addition, the American Carbon Registry will publish sector-specific technical standards, which detail methodologies for GHG accounting for offset projects. The first sector standard, the Forest Carbon Project Standard was published in March 2008. In 2009, the Registry will publish additional sector standards for waste (landfills) and reduced nitrogen in fertilizer use. To ensure the highest quality of offsets, the Registry accepts only projects that are verified against the American Carbon Registry’s published standards. The American Carbon Registry relies on Winrock expert staff to develop these technical standards, which provide the foundation for offset quality.
 
Winrock and ERT team members are not only carbon experts, but internationally recognized technical experts in clean energy, biofuels, methane capture, agriculture practices, nitrogen management, land use change, afforestation, reforestation, forest management and avoided deforestation. The Winrock and ERT team base their carbon accounting standards and methodologies on sound science and experience in the field and present these methodologies for peer review in scientific literature.
 
The Registry also recognizes that there are other high quality standards in the market and therefore allows Members the flexibility to choose among other specific methodologies and tools for GHG measurement from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) U.S. EPA Climate Leaders, and Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and WRI/ WBCSD GHG Protocol to the extent that they comply with the Registry’s published standards. Members of the Winrock and ERT team have been participants in the development of standards and methodologies manuals and publications for CDM and VCS, among others.
 
Furthermore, 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 by ERT-Winrock. Alternatively, the developer may work directly with ERT-Winrock to design and evaluate new methodologies. Upon validation, the American Carbon Registry may publish the methodology for future use.
 

How does the Registry ensure quality?

The American Carbon Registry ensures quality in four distinct ways, each described in more detail below.

The Registry:

• Is completely transparent in its operations and registry information
• Collaborates fully with the Offset Quality Initiative
• Registers offsets and corporate inventories that have been independently verified against the highest standards
• Draws on technical experts at Winrock to evaluate and validate new methodologies

Transparency

Transparency 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, providing complete transparency through publicly accessible registry and member account information. Publicly accessible information includes documentation of the standards used to quantify and qualify the registered offsets and corporate inventories as well as all verification reports. Carbon transactions, including the purchase, sale and retirement of serialized offsets, are also reported on the Registry. 

Offset Quality Initiative

ERT-Winrock is an active participant in the Offset Quality Initiative (OQI) and supports OQI principles. OQI was founded in November 2007 to provide leadership on greenhouse gas offset policy and best practices. OQI is a collaborative, consensus-based effort that brings together the collective expertise of its six nonprofit member organizations: The Climate Trust, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, The Climate Group and the California Climate Action Registry. OQI works to identify, articulate and promote key principles that ensure the quality of greenhouse gas emissions offsets.
 
On July 28, 2008, the Offset Quality Initiative (OQI) released a white paper titled “Ensuring Offset Quality: Integrating High Quality Greenhouse Gas Offsets Into Cap-and-Trade Policy.” The document offers policymakers practical recommendations regarding the integration of greenhouse gas offsets into emerging regulatory systems at the state, regional and federal levels. In addition to regulatory design guidelines, the white paper addresses the key criteria for offset quality and discusses offset project types most appropriate for inclusion in emerging regulatory systems.

Independent verification against the highest standards

To ensure the highest quality of offsets, the Registry accepts only projects that meet the requirements of its Technical Standard and are verified against the Registry’s published standards, developed by ERT-Winrock. Corporate inventories must also comply with accepted standards. The Registry requires independent verification of offset projects and corporate inventories by companies on its published approved verifiers list. 

Members have the flexibility to choose among other specific methodologies and tools for GHG measurement from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), U.S. EPA Climate Leaders, Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and WRI/ WBCSD GHG Protocol, used in compliance with American Carbon Registry standards. The Registry requires independent verification of projects and corporate inventories by companies on its published approved verifiers list. 

The Registry allows only offsets that have met its Offset Eligibility Criteria and have successfully passed through the Registry’s proprietary quality screening tool and annual quality assurance review. These tools were all developed by ERT-Winrock to meet the Registry’s commitment to quality and transparency and to ensure that only those projects that uphold this commitment are registered on its platform.
 
The first step in the quality assurance is the initial screening, an overall “pass/fail” test on each of the eleven project offset eligibility criteria. Those projects that pass the initial eligibility screen then undergo a more detailed, fine quality evaluation and ranking.
 
Next, the tool identifies different project quality metrics for each major eligibility criterion. Each quality metric contains multiple ranking definitions. Projects are scored using these carefully designed metrics and their definitions.  Once offsets have successfully passed the quality screening tool, the Registry can issue them onto the Registry as Emissions Reduction Tons (“ERTs”), the Registry’s unique carbon currency. 
 
Please note that American Carbon Registry offset projects previously listed on the GHG Registry successfully passed through the quality screening tool, allowing those offsets to be transferred to the American Carbon Registry. The only exception to the eligibility criteria applied to GHG Registry projects was the recognition of start dates as early as 1997, when the GHG Registry was founded. ERT did not believe it was fair to penalize early-actors who otherwise have high quality offsets. 

Annual Quality Assurance review

Additionally, the Registry requires that each project and corporate inventory complete an annual quality assurance (QA) review. The purpose of this review is to detect any new conditions that might be triggered (ie: regulatory changes) that would lead to a loss of eligibility for registration of new offsets from that project or would require a corporation to recalculate its baseline.

Evaluation and validation of new methodologies

The American Carbon Registry promotes innovation to bring new offsets types to market. Project developers are welcome to submit new methodologies and tools for evaluation and validation by ERT-Winrock that another carbon registry system has not yet accepted. Alternatively, the project developer may work with ERT-Winrock to design, evaluate and implement a new methodology and/or tool. Upon validation, the American Carbon Registry may publish the methodologies for future use.
 
Access to in-house expertise also allows us to take the lead in bringing new methodologies to market more quickly. We don’t have to rely on lengthy consultation processes to understand critical characteristics important to quality, and we can apply time-tested peer-review practices to assure scientific consensus. We develop new methodologies based on best scientific practices and field experience and present results in peer-reviewed publications.
 
 

How do I submit a project for offset registration?

The American Carbon Registry accepts only offsets from projects that have been independently verified against American Carbon Registry Standards.

The steps to submit a project for offset registration are:

1. Carbon offset project proponent submits PDD for eligibility screening against the American Carbon Registry’s Offset Eligibility Criteria. The fee for submission is $500, which the Registry will apply to the new account fee.
2. If project passes eligibility screening, it is ready for verification from an American Carbon Registry approved verifier.
3. Once verified, the Registry issues and registers “ERTs”. Please note that “ERT” issuance and registration are dependent on acceptable verification results, as defined by the Registry.    
   

How do I submit a corporate inventory for registration?

The American Carbon Registry bases its corporate inventory reporting requirements on the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol, Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004) and ISO-14064, Part 1 Standard [hotlink to “resources” section].

ACR requires organizations registering an entity-wide inventory to account for and report:

• All GHG emissions from GHG sources owned or controlled by the member (Scope I)
• All indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat, and steam (Scope II)
• Other indirect GHG emissions are optional and based on specification in the member’s validated GHG Inventory Management Plan (Scope III)

The steps to submit a corporate inventory for Reporting in the Registry are:

1. Authorized representative submits corporate inventory for eligibility screening against approved Standards: WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol, Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004) and ISO-14064 Part 1. The fee for submission is $500, which the Registry will apply to the new account fee for corporate inventories.
2. If corporate inventory passes eligibility screening, it is ready for verification from an American Carbon Registry approved verifier
   
3. Once verified, the Registry will report the corporate inventory in the member’s corporate account. Please note that corporate inventory reporting is dependent on acceptable verification results, as defined by the Registry.