Trees Forever is hosting an informational session for community leaders to learn about its carbon crediting program and how carbon credits can be used to generate revenue for their Iowa or Illinois towns. The session will be held Tuesday, August 2 at Noon via a virtual Zoom meeting. Participants may register at http://www.treesforever.org/event/carbon.
Trees Forever staff will discuss community benefits of trees, how towns can enroll in the program, the carbon crediting process, benefits in addition to revenue, community responsibilities, and documentation requirements. This opportunity for smaller, rural towns to get involved in the carbon credit process is facilitated by a grant from the U.S. Forest Service. Trees Forever works alongside communities as a “project operator” for tree plantings and guides the towns through the mapping, documentation, and carbon credit sales process.
This expanded focus towards smaller towns comes on the heals of a successful carbon credit sale earlier this year in the city of Des Moines, Iowa. Trees Forever partners with City Forest Credits, a United States-based nonprofit carbon registry that offers Carbon+ Credits. These are standardized units that deliver quantified and reportable metrics on CO2 sequestration, stormwater reductions, energy savings, and air quality improvements. The sale of the Carbon+ Credits was the largest and first-of-its-kind transaction and represented the carbon stored in 13 urban forestry projects across the country, including Trees Forever’s Des Moines plantings. It also constituted all of the city forest carbon credits available in the United States at that time.
“Trees provide many benefits to communities including shade, cool streets, stormwater retention, improved water quality, and natural beautification,” says Trees Forever Director of Programs Leslie Berckes. “One of their biggest benefits is carbon storage, and this can be used as a financial advantage for communities across Iowa and Illinois. The trees you plant can be converted to carbon credits and then those credits sold. This can lead to more money for future tree plantings and tree maintenance.”
For questions, please contact Trees Forever Program Manager Debbie Fluegel by phone at 309-613-0095 or e-mail at [email protected].