Appalachian Mountain Club Announces Sale of Carbon Credits from Maine Ecological Reserve

Appalachian Mountain Club Announces Sale of Carbon Credits from Maine Ecological Reserve
The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) today announced the sale of verified carbon emission credits from its Katahdin Iron Works conservation property in Maine to The Climate Trust, a nonprofit specializing in carbon financing.

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Rob Burbank
Director of Media and Public Affairs
rburbank@outdoors.org
(603) 466-8155

Dave Publicover
Assistant Director of Research
dpublicover@outdoors.org
(603) 466-8140

"The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) today announced the sale of verified carbon emission credits from its Katahdin Iron Works conservation property in Maine to The Climate Trust, a nonprofit specializing in carbon financing. By encouraging natural forest growth on AMC’s 10,000-acre ecological reserve, the project preserves stored carbon in the forest and enables an additional revenue stream through the sale of carbon credits. AMC’s Katahdin Iron Works conservation and recreation property is located in Piscataquis County, and was established as part of the organization’s Maine Woods Initiative—a strategy for land conservation in the 100-Mile Wilderness region. The initial offset sale represents over 100,000 carbon reduction tons—the equivalent of removing 21,000 gasoline-powered passenger cars from the road.

Forests cover about one-third of the United States and are of great importance as habitat for wildlife, to clean air and water, to supply timber and other products, and for recreation. However, these vital lands face continued pressure from development and conversion for other uses. The Northern Forest is threatened by fragmentation and development. Since the 1990s, when timber companies—which had owned large tracts of forest—began to sell these lands, the threat of fragmentation and loss of functional ecosystems and habitat has grown. Carbon markets provide an important incentive to preserve intact, healthy forests.

AMC’s carbon offsets have been verified under the Forest Project Protocol of the Climate Action Reserve. The protocol requires AMC to demonstrate that the emissions reductions provided by its offsets are permanent, verifiable, and “additional.” Additionality requires that the offset credit provides a benefit above and beyond what would have happened without the project. AMC is committed to continued monitoring and verification of the project to ensure that its climate benefits persist for a period of 100 years following issuance of any carbon credits for greenhouse gas reductions achieved by the project. The protocol also includes standards that ensure the project is sustainably managed and ecological “co-benefits,” such as wildlife habitat and soil and water quality, are maintained..."

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