Frequently Asked Questions

How is the American Carbon Registry different from other US Registries?
What carbon accounting standards does ACR accept?
How does ACR ensure quality?
 

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 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, biofuels 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 (EPA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), USDA Forest Service, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the World Bank among others to co-author standards and approve carbon offset methodologies. 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 a co-Nobel prize winner for her contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 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 Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and United Nations organizations.    

Capacity for technical leadership on new methodologies

Because ACR 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., ACR boasts over a decade of operational experience in development of high quality carbon offset standards and methodologies, carbon offset issuance and serialization and transparent on-line transaction reporting. ACR has issued over 30 million carbon offsets and in 2008 was the most widely used voluntary carbon market registry in the world. ACR was founded in 1997 as the GHG Registry by the Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Resources Trust (ERT). ERT and ACR joined Winrock International in 2007, expanding the Winrock team of climate change, forestry, clean energy, agriculture, biofuels 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 30 million offsets and facilitated trading and retirement of over eight (8) 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.  
 
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 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 Standard, which outlines the eligibility requirements for registration of project-based carbon offsets, details acceptable GHG accounting principles, provides requirements for methodology approval and independent verification 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. To ensure the highest quality of offsets, the Registry accepts only projects that are independently 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 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 team bases 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 allows Members the flexibility to use other methodologies and tools for GHG measurement from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and ACR-approved methodologies and tools from U.S. EPA Climate Leaders to the extent that they comply with the Registry’s published standards. 

Furthermore, the American Carbon Registry promotes innovation to bring new offset types to market. If ACR has 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 ACR Registry for approval via scientific peer review. Upon approval, 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 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 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

Winrock via ACR 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, Winrock International / Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, The Climate Group and the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR). 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 American Carbon Registry Standard and are independently validated and verified against the Registry’s published standards. 

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

Note that American Carbon Registry offset projects previously listed on the GHG Registry successfully passed through the ACR offset 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. Winrock and ACR did not believe it was fair to penalize early-actors who otherwise have high quality offsets. 

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 or modified methodologies and tools for evaluation and approval by ACR via scientific peer review.  Upon approval, American Carbon Registry may publish the methodologies for future use.
 
Access to in-house expertise also allows ACR 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.