LOS ANGELES — The Climate Action Reserve today released for public comment its revised permanence approach.

Permanence is a fundamental attribute of the Reserve’s crediting program. Our program is designed to evolve alongside the latest scientific understanding, market innovations, and practical implementation instruments. The revised approach reflects the meaningful climate value provided by greenhouse gas (GHG) storage across a range of time horizons. The approach also reinforces the role of the Reserve in providing maximum transparency into project activities.

The approach was developed in close consultation with stakeholders comprising carbon market leaders, climate scientists, and community representatives, as part of a work program launched in September 2025. The revised approach further reflects the evolution of permanence in the broader market. It is applicable to protocols with permanence risk under our voluntary carbon crediting program.

Under the revised approach, the Reserve would establish a comprehensive framework that sets a standard commitment period of 40 years and provides for mechanisms to manage reversal risk after this period, such as through a long-term conservation easement, cancellation of credits with negligible reversal risk, or a permanence trust.

Projects will remain responsible for monitoring carbon stocks and compensating for reversals throughout the commitment period. Projects will also continue to contribute credits to a buffer pool but could reduce their buffer pool contributions through alternative approaches such as insurance. The Reserve would indicate on its registry the length and end date of a project’s commitment period, how a project will monitor carbon stocks and compensate for losses in the case of a reversal, and whether and how the project would manage reversal risk after the commitment period.

The Reserve invites public comments on the revised approach. The public comment period runs from June 9 to June 22, with a live webinar on Tuesday, June 16 at 9 am PDT.

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About the Climate Action Reserve: The Climate Action Reserve develops and implements trusted market-based programs to advance climate action for people and planet. A leader in high-integrity carbon accounting, we serve global carbon markets, envisioning a world cooperating to solve climate change at speed and scale.

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For media inquiries, please contact reserve@browningenvironmental.com or +1 (202) 615-3548.

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