American Carbon Registry Issues First California Registry Offset Credits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (August 5, 2013) — The American Carbon Registry (ACR), an approved California Offset Project Registry, has issued the first Registry Offset Credits (ROCs) of the California compliance offset program. ROCs are eligible to be transitioned to Air Resource Board (ARB) compliance Offset Credits, which can be used by California entities to help meet their emissions reductions obligations in the Cap-and-Trade Program.

The ACR issuance was for over 300,000 ROCs to Environmental Credit Corp. for an ozone depleting substances (ODS) destruction project developed under and verified against the ARB compliance offset protocol. Environmental Credit Corp. plans to immediately file a request with ARB for issuance of compliance Offset Credits. The ROCs were verified by an ARB-accredited offset verifier but still must undergo review by ARB staff prior to issuance as ARB Offset Credits in ARB’s market tracking system.

“American Carbon Registry’s issuance of these Registry Offset Credits signals good progress for the compliance offset program,” said Belinda Morris, ACR California director. “We expect to soon see the issuance of the first ARB Offset Credits, which will be another major program milestone and will boost market confidence.”

“We have been pleased to work with ACR and ARB on the listing, verification and ROC issuance for our first compliance project and are very happy to see the project progressing,” noted Derek Six, Environmental Credit Corp. CEO. “The extremely rigorous process will ensure the high quality of compliance offsets, which is critical to maintaining the integrity of the California offset program.”

To date, ACR has listed five California compliance offset projects and four early action projects and has half a dozen California offset projects in the listing process. ACR is also participating in the ARB working groups for the two new offset compliance protocols for Rice Cultivation Projects and Mine Methane Capture Projects, which are expected to be presented for approval at the October ARB meeting.

About American Carbon Registry
The nonprofit American Carbon Registry (ACR), an enterprise of Winrock International, is a leading carbon offset program recognized for its strong standards for environmental integrity. Founded in 1996 as the first private voluntary GHG registry in the world, ACR has over 15 years of experience in the development of rigorous, science-based carbon offset standards and methodologies as well as in carbon offset issuance, serialization and transparent online retirement reporting.

ACR is an approved Offset Project Registry (OPR) and Early Action Offset Program for the California Cap-and-Trade program. As an OPR, ACR works with the Air Resources Board (ARB) to oversee the registration and issuance of California-eligible Registry Offset Credits developed using ARB’s compliance or early action offset protocols. ARB’s approval of ACR as an OPR signals that ACR has met stringent regulatory requirements including technical expertise in carbon offset protocols; extensive experience in the oversight of offset project listing, registration, independent verification and issuance; operational know-how in offset registry management; and a solid understanding of the regulation underpinning the compliance offset program.

Contact:
American Carbon Registry
Mary Grady
(805) 884-1961

Environmental Credit Corp.
Derek Six
(607) 288-4045