The Climate Action Reserve adopted its revised permanence approach on June 30, 2026. The approach provides project developers with greater flexibility to protect long-term carbon storage and offers buyers and market participants greater clarity into how a project’s permanence risks are addressed over time. By expanding the tools available to address reversal risk, the approach is a more flexible, transparent, and enforceable framework for supporting durable climate benefits.

• Revised permanence approach (June 2026)

Under the revised approach, the Reserve defines permanence as an attribute of a carbon credit that confirms its associated greenhouse gases (GHGs) are stored out of the atmosphere long enough to benefit the climate. The Reserve also establishes a comprehensive framework
that:

• Sets a standard commitment period of 40 years;
• Requires projects to remain responsible for monitoring carbon stocks and compensating for reversals throughout their commitment period;
• Requires projects to continue to contribute credits to a buffer pool and/or to use alternative approaches such as insurance;
• Provides for mechanisms for projects to manage permanence after their commitment period, such as through a long-term conservation easement, cancellation of credits with negligible reversal risk, or a permanence trust; and
• Transparently discloses on its registry the length and end date of project commitment periods, how projects will monitor carbon stocks and compensate for losses in the case of a reversal, and whether and how the project will manage reversal risk after the commitment period.

The Reserve held a public comment period on its revised permanence approach in June 2026.

• Revised permanence approach announcement
• Revised permanence approach – public comment draft (English | Spanish)

Public comment webinar
The Reserve held a public comment webinar June 16, 2026, to discuss the revised permanence approach in detail and solicit public comments.

• Webinar recording
• Presentation slides

1. What protocols does the revised permanence approach apply to?

The Reserve’s revised permanence approach is a program-wide policy that will apply to all protocols in its voluntary carbon crediting program. In effect, the revised permanence approach will only impact project types with risk of reversal.

The permanence approach does not impact protocols developed by third parties that the Reserve administers (i.e. compliance protocols under California or Washington State’s Cap-and-Invest programs).

2. What is the next step in the process, after Board adoption?

The Reserve will begin updating its protocols and Program Manual to implement the approved approach. The Reserve will provide updates on implementation timelines as this work progresses.  

3. How does this impact my existing project?

Existing projects operating under the Reserve’s current permanence approach may choose to remain under the existing approach (including for renewed crediting periods) or to transition to the revised approach.

4. What insurance projects are eligible to reduce buffer pool contributions?

Eligible insurance products will require Reserve approval as these products are highly specialized financial instruments. Product-level review ensures that approved insurance products provide protection equivalent to the risk mitigation assumptions underlying the buffer pool reduction. Criteria for assessing these products will be established program-wide and may vary by individual protocol.

5. Why is the Reserve updating its permanence standard?

Our program is designed to evolve alongside the latest scientific understanding, market innovations, and practical implementation instruments. The revised permanence approach aligns with the robust accounting standards and environmental safeguards that underpin high-integrity crediting in our program, while advancing new and implementable tools to manage permanence risk.

6. What is a permanence trust?

The permanence trust offers an innovative mechanism for addressing reversal risk in carbon crediting. Under this model, liability fees from participating projects are pooled together into a trust and managed collectively, allowing for shared liability, pooled risk, and pooled financial reserves.

Each project is assessed for reversal risk and when carbon credits are sold, a fee is paid into the permanence trust based on the reversal assessment. The trust uses the funds to manage non-permanence risk, including monitoring participating projects, implementing measures to mitigate reversal risks, and funding corrective actions if reversals occur.

By shifting liability for non-permanence from project developers or landowners to an independent risk-management entity, the permanence trust can reduce risk for project participants and strengthen confidence in the enduring climate impact.

The permanence trust shares similarities with the buffer pool, where many projects contribute credits into a common pool. The permanence trust takes the pooled-risk concept but replaces credit reserves with a professionally managed financial vehicle that collects fees, invests them, monitors projects, and pays for remediation if reversals occur.

Currently, the permanence trust is in a conceptual development phase. The Reserve will work with key partners to support the establishment of pooled trusts.

7. Will the revised permanence approach impact the quantification of carbon credits?

The revised permanence approach does not change the quantification of emissions reductions or removals (ERRs) or the total number of carbon credits generated based on those ERRs.

The revised permanence approach does not employ tonne-year accounting for the quantification of credits, meaning that the commitment period affects the duration of project monitoring and liability obligations rather than the quantification of credits.

8. How will projects that manage for “reversal risk after the commitment period” be recognized in the Reserve Registry?

Project listings on the Reserve Registry will denote whether and how a project is managing reversal risk after the commitment period, including via a conservation easement, credit cancellation, or permanence trust. The selections will be searchable and filterable to ensure that market participants can find relevant project information efficiently.

9. Will credits that have been previously issued be impacted by the new permanence approach?

Credits that have been issued under protocol versions aligned with the prior approach are not required to align with the revised approach. All credits issued by the Climate Action Reserve meet the Reserve’s programmatic principles and requirements that ensure high-integrity. The revised approach presents new pathways to ensure permanence aligned with advancements in market innovations and implementation instruments.

As part of the transition, the Reserve will work with projects that have previously issued and retired credits and want to adopt the revised approach to ensure that all retired credits continue to meet the permanence assumptions understood by the buyer of credits.

We appreciate the strong interest this initiative has generated among active and engaged professionals across the carbon market. The workgroup membership was finalized in November 2025, and we are honored to convene a distinguished group of expert thought leaders to advance the program’s objectives. Members include:

• Ben Parkhurst, Anew Climate
• David Antonioli, Transition Finance
• David LaGreca, EcoEngineers
• Jason Gray, Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force
• Jeff Seale, HabiTerre
• Jennifer Jenkins, Rubicon Carbon
• Johanna Depenthal, Cool Effect
• Jordan Wildish, Washington State Department of Ecology (Observer)
• Lara Hughes-Allen, TÜV SÜD
• Lizethe Rivera, Secretaría de Sustentabilidad, Medio Ambiente y Agua del Estado de Aguascalientes (Observer)
• Lynn Riley, American Forest Foundation
• Max DuBuisson, Indigo Ag
• Megan Baskerville, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Observer)
• Nandini Wilcke, CarbonPool
• Oscar Espinosa, Bioforestal México
• Pedro Morales, GLZ
• Racheal Notto, Kita
• Rosendo Pérez, Integradora de Comunidades Indígenas y Campesinas de Oaxaca
• Sebastián Ortiz, ALLCOT
• Sheldon Zakreski, Greenline Climate
• Tara Ursell, California Air Resources Board (Observer)
• Victor Duribe, Sky Harvest

The work program convened repeatedly over the course of 6 months to address a range of key topics, including the appropriate timeframe for post-issuance monitoring, buffer pool structure, the effectiveness of the contractual approach, the role of third parties such as insurers or trusts, and the interplay with enhanced management activities. The revised permanence approach published for public comment (see above) was the result of these discussions and in consultation with work program members.

The Climate Action Reserve launched a work program to consider how its carbon crediting protocols should address permanence in September 2025.

• Permanence Work Program Document (English | Spanish)