Ashland County’s forest carbon project cleared third‑party verification; ACR review next
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Summary
The county’s carbon project passed an external verifier and will be submitted to the American Carbon Registry (ACR); county staff say sale timing and price remain uncertain and the county would commit to a 40-year carbon-holding period if the sale documents move forward.
County staff told the committee that a third‑party verifier has approved the county’s forest carbon project and that the project will be submitted to the American Carbon Registry (ACR) for final review.
According to staff, the third‑party verifier accepted the data compiled by the county and its partner Anew, and Anew will forward the project to ACR in the coming weeks. Staff said they expect ACR to review the submission and either approve it, deny it, or request modifications; staff estimated the ACR review could take approximately three to four months but said no firm timeline was provided by ACR.
Committee members asked about the market value and how buyers use credits. Staff explained that purchasers buy credits to claim that they have offset a quantity of greenhouse‑gas emissions; a buyer that purchases credits equivalent to its emissions can market itself as carbon neutral for those emissions. Staff said the county’s credits are likely to be valued higher than some others in the market because of how the county manages timber; they also noted the voluntary carbon market experienced a price drop several months earlier when an influx of international credits entered the market and verifiers found data problems in some submissions.
Staff said the county’s carbon credits would require a commitment to hold the carbon for 40 years. The committee was told the county previously approved the project development arrangement with Anew and that, if ACR approves the project, the committee and then the county board would see contract documents enabling the sale; staff emphasized they have not yet signed the long‑term sale documents and that those documents would come back to the committee and county board before any final commitment.
Ending: County staff said marketing discussions with Anew would begin soon; the county expects to be able to offer credits for sale sometime next year if ACR approves the project, but staff cautioned that market prices and timing remain uncertain.
