We’re not your typical developer
We work with at-risk family forests on the timescale of family generations. We deliver integrity: we don’t sell carbon already stored in trees. We only credit and sell the incremental growth attributed to real changes in landowner behavior and their long-term commitments to carbon storage.
We're not about industrial timberlands
What is generational additionality?
Generational additionality is the concept that families have committed themselves, their children and their grandchildren to changes in forest management that promote long-term carbon storage.
For most families, the only income generated from owning forest is either the sale of the land or the sale of harvested timber. Families must bear the cost of ownership and living: property taxes, maintenance, retirement, medical bills and college tuition, to name a few. Forest Carbon Works provides an alternative revenue stream to help cover these costs through the sale of incremental carbon storage associated with families’ long-term commitments.
The concept of generational additionality reaches beyond families. While most landowners (77%) intend to pass forest stewardship on to their children, others may not; in fact, 42% of privately-owned lands change ownership between 2006 and 2013, demonstrating the frequency of land sale (Huff et al. 2019). The commitment runs with the property, so future landowners are likewise obligated to uphold generational additionality. This is good for long-term carbon storage and the permanence of carbon credits.
We don't use a popular methodology
Why not credit and sell carbon that was already stored in trees?
Reflected by our choice in crediting methodology, our program seeks to deliver the highest quality product to buyers who purchase credits from our members. We, like the media, think it is disingenuous to claim credit for carbon already stored in trees prior to making the generational commitment to manage forests for long-term carbon storage.
In contrast, most other developers choose to use a different methodology that gives credit for carbon already stored in trees. While the other methodology is popular because it produces a large volume of credits to sell in the very first years, it poses a substantial media risk to buyers who purchase these credits. The counterfactual crediting of avoided emissions from carbon already stored in trees is the primary criticism leveled at nature-based projects: would these trees have been immediately cut down?
We have aligned our program with buyers’ interests in quality over quantity, and therefore we only credit and sell the incremental carbon from new tree growth as a result of real changes in landowner behavior.
About the chart: most credits issued are issued by the American Carbon Registry and represent carbon already stored in trees, trees that existed prior to any new changes in forest management. Forest Carbon Works supplies a fraction of the market because we only credit and sell incremental growth.
