The Climate Trust

The Climate Trust is a mission-driven nonprofit that manages a carbon investment fund to deliver offset acquisition programs for utilities, governments, and large businesses. Since our creation, we have managed over $40 million and invested in projects that reduce greenhouse gases. Our efforts have created the pathway to retiring just under 10M tons of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) in several different sectors; many of them innovative, first-of-their kind efforts. We are the delivery organization for carbon dioxide legislation in the state of Oregon that became law in 1997. The Climate Trust has been delivering emission reduction projects in OR, WA, CO, MA and other states for 20 years serving both the voluntary and compliance markets. The Climate Trust also provides offsets through our Colorado Carbon Fund (CCF) program. The CCF is the first and only statewide voluntary offset program in the U.S., focusing its support on greenhouse gas reduction projects in Colorado that produce permanent, verifiable carbon offsets. Our portfolio includes projects that fit ARB carbon compliance protocols. We are also working on several new methods that may eventually fit ARB standards such as Avoided Conversion of Grasslands, Wetlands Restoration, Biochar, Agricultural Nutrient Management, and others. TCT’s latest initiative is to prove that environmental performance can be relied on to repay impact investors a market rate return while deepening the level of greenhouse gas reductions. 2016 saw the launch of a pilot carbon investment fund (Climate Trust Capital) to demonstrate this thesis. The aim is to scale this fund facility upwards to the $200-$300 million level.