36 City Trees
ment, deed covenant, or management plan that
preser ves the trees.
Carbon buyers will purchase credits from project appli-
cants and not from the Registry. This puts revenue from
cer tified carbon credit sales directly in the hands of
the projects that can then use those monies to recoup
initial project costs, maintain the credited trees, or
fund other urban forestry projects that in turn may be
eligible for additional credits. The Registry thus acts as
a verification and credentialing entity that issues credits
to projects.
The Registry has developed an innovative "bundled"
credit that includes the quantified value of storm water
retention, energy savings, and air quality improvements,
in addition to a metric tonne of CO2. These bundled
urban forest credits will be highly valuable to voluntary
carbon buyers as "charismatic" credits, a term carbon
buyers use to describe credits that deliver more than
CO2 storage.
Urban forest credits also provide many valuable media
oppor tunities for carbon buyers as the buyers "give
back" to their communities and as projects grow over
time to transform community parks, schools, neighbor
-
hoods, riparian areas, and other urban and suburban
sites.
Urban forest projects can also provide equity and envi-
ronmental justice, if they take place in disadvantaged
urban communities where tree cover is often lower than
in more affluent neighborhoods.
In sum, the Registry is working to establish a new
funding source for urban and community forestry in the
United States. There are many challenges in blazing
this new trail, but connecting urban forests with carbon
buyers is overdue.
Could this effor t be used by cities and towns interna
-
tionally? Yes, and the protocols developed could help
jump-star t this in other countries. For now, the Registry
is working to launch and prove the concept here in the
U.S. before devoting resources to international devel-
opment.
The Registry welcomes your comments on the protocols
or any other element of this new effor t.
Please go to
www.ufregistry.org to download copies of
the protocols or learn more about the Urban Forestry
Carbon Registry. You can also email Mark McPherson,
the director, at
mark @ ufregistry.org.
The SavATree Consulting Group provides
Actionable Tree Intelligence for tree and tree
canopy management, including:
• Tree canopy assessments
• Tree inventories
• Tree risk assessments
• Tree preservation services
For more information about the unique
expertise offered by the SavATree Consulting
Group, please visit www.savatree.com/
consulting.
The SavATree Consulting Group is proud to be a
corporate member of the Society of Municipal Arborists.
savatree.com
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