Eligibility

The Chicago Climate Exchange allows carbon credits from conservation practices including continuous no-till and strip-till farming. To be eligible for conservation farming, the producer or landowner must make a 5-year minimum contractual commitment. The carbon benefit is credited at 0.2 to 0.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per acre per year, depending on location.

Certain grass plantings are also eligible practices. A 5-year minimum contractual commitment to maintain grass plantings must be made by the producer or landowner. Permanent grass plantings implemented after January 1, 2003 can be credited at 0.4 or 1.0 metric tons of CO₂ per year, depending on location.

Tree planting projects involving afforestation--direct human-induced conversion of non-forested or degraded land into forest--can also be enrolled if initiated on or after January 1, 2003. Eligible plantings can earn between 0.146 and 5.503 metric tons of CO₂ per acre per year, depending on stand age/type and location.

Sustainable forest management projects require a third-party certification approved by the Chicago Climate Exchange Forestry Committee. At this time, eligible programs include the American Tree Farm System (detailed here), Forest Stewardship Council, and Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Annual carbon sequestration values are based on stand inventories run through a growth-and-yield model.

Eligible methane digesters are those that were in operation any time after 2003 and have installed biogas flow monitoring and/or electrical metering equipment. Methane is credited at 21 metric tons of CO₂ per ton of methane, per year.