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 contractual commitment through 2010. Eligible Illinois farms are credited at 0.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per acre per year, but other areas vary depending on land region.

Certain grass plantings are also eligible practices. A contractual commitment through 2010 to maintain grass plantings must be made by the producer or landowner. Illinois grass plantings implemented after January 1, 1999 are credited at 1.0 metric tons of CO₂ per year, but other areas vary depending on land region.

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, 1990. Eligible plantings in Illinois can earn between 0.669 and 1.419 metric tons of CO₂ per acre per year, but credit varies based on species and stand age.

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 1999 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.