Eligibility

The Chicago Climate Exchange allows carbon credits from conservation practices including no-till and strip-till farming. To be eligible for Conservation Farming, the producer or landowner must make a contractual commitment through 2010. The carbon benefit is credited at 0.2 to 0.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per acre per year, depending on location.

Grass Plantings are also eligible practices. A contractual commitment through 2010 to maintain grass plantings must be made by the producer or landowner. Grass plantings implemented after January 1, 1999 can be credited at 0.4 or 1.0 metric tons of CO₂ per year, depending on location.

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.

Tree planting projects can also be enrolled if the plantings were initiated on or after January 1, 1990 on land that was not forested or on forest land that had been degraded on December 31, 1989. Projects include afforestation, reforestation via plantings, forest enrichment, and passive reforestation. Tree plantings in Illinois average 4.4 metric tons of CO₂ per acre per year, but credit varies based on stand age/type and location.