Summary

King County’s new Forest Carbon Program confronts climate change by offering local companies the opportunity to offset their carbon emissions by keeping forests intact here in the region, making it possible for their employees and their families to explore and enjoy the protected outdoor spaces.

Story

King County is the nation’s first local government to offer a certified carbon credit program that protects local forests.

The county’s new Forest Carbon Program offers local companies the opportunity to offset a portion of their carbon emissions within King County where their employees and their families can explore and enjoy the protected forests in both urban and rural communities.

“We are making it possible for local companies to help us protect forests, confront climate change, and promote healthy habitat right here where their employees live, work, and play,” said Executive Constantine. “Our first-of-its-kind carbon credit program has the potential to be a national model for public-private partnerships that improve the quality of life for people and wildlife in their own backyards.”

The temperate forests in the Pacific Northwest are among the best in the world at storing carbon because many native tree species have long, productive lifespans. The same factors that make Pacific Northwest forests ideal for timber production also make them highly effective at storing carbon. But until now, very few carbon credits were available that protect local forests.

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How King County’s Forest Carbon Program Works

1. Start 2015
2. King County begins developing Forest Carbon Program
3. King County purchases forested properties, preventing trees from being cut.
4. Carbon stays in the trees and the trees continue to absorb CO2.
5. The protected forests provide climate benefits and improved water quality, wildlife habitat, and greenspaces for communities.
6. The projects are reviewed and verified by City Forest Credits (CFC) for urban sites and Verified Caron Standards (VCS) for rural sites.
7. Carbon credits were issued to King County by CFC in 2018 and are expected to be issued by VCS in Fall 2019.
8. Companies take action to reduce carbon emissions. Local companies can also purchase carbon credits from King County to offset some emissions.
9. King County will invest the revenue in protecting more forests.

King County acquires high-value forests that are at risk of development and then offers buyers the opportunity to purchase carbon credits generated by keeping carbon in the forests. King County will then invest the revenue generated by the program to protect more forests and offer credits to additional buyers.

In the first five years of the program, the urban and rural components of King County’s Forest Carbon Program will store at least 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide that otherwise would have been emitted into the atmosphere.

Forests protected and managed under the program’s guidelines also will produce other benefits, such as cleaner air and water, healthier habitats for salmon and wildlife, and recreational opportunities.

Microsoft is the first local company committed to purchasing the county’s rural carbon credits, which will be formally available in late 2019. Microsoft has committed to purchasing all of the credits from the rural program in its first year to offset carbon emissions from its operations.

Kirkland-based Fishermen’s Finest is the first local company to purchase urban carbon credits from King County from a recently protected forest near Sammamish. They are a home-grown fishing company with operations in the North Pacific and Bering Sea. The company is pushing the Alaska fishing industry to consider climate change and sustainability in fleet operations.

Strict standards to ensure carbon offsets have a real, lasting impact

For the rural forest carbon project, King County partnered with the Pinchot Institute to determine how much carbon is stored in local forests. This project will meet standards developed by the internationally recognized Verified Carbon Standard, while the county’s urban forest carbon projects meet the standards developed by City Forest Credits, a Seattle-based nonprofit that developed an innovative verification protocol for urban forest canopy preservation.

The strict standards ensure that carbon offsets have a real and lasting impact.

Natural Capital Partners, specialists in developing carbon project solutions for corporations, has worked closely with King County on the rural carbon credits program and pre-purchased all the credits from the first year on behalf of its client, Microsoft. The project’s location close to the Microsoft campus makes it an ideal fit for the company’s carbon neutral program.

Advancing Executive Constantine's Land Conservation Initiative

The Forest Carbon Program advances Executive Constantine’s Land Conservation Initiative, a 30-year vision to protect 65,000 acres of King County’s last remaining and most vital conservation lands and ensure that all the county’s residents have access to greenspace. It offers the first new private funding source for the Land Conservation Initiative and a rare opportunity for businesses in the Puget Sound region to support land conservation.

King County plans to expand its Forest Carbon Program so local cities, nonprofits, and private forest landowners can participate as they protect forests, increasing the amount of carbon stored and generating funds for additional forest conservation.

Relevant links

• King County's Forest Carbon Program
• STORY MAP: Executive Constantine's Land Conservation Initiative
• MOTION GRAPHIC: How King County's Forest Program Works

Quotes

We are making it possible for local companies to help us protect forests, confront climate change, and promote healthy habitat right here where their employees live, work, and play. Our first-of-its-kind carbon credit program has the potential to be a national model for public-private partnerships that improve the quality of life for people and wildlife in their own backyards.

Microsoft shares King County’s commitment to carbon neutrality, and the Forest Carbon Program offers a unique approach to carbon in a way that is good for our business, good for the community and good for the environment. We have operated 100 percent carbon neutral since 2012, and our participation in the Program is a good example of how this global goal can drive positive local outcomes in our own backyard.

At Fishermen's Finest we help feed the world - a world where close to eight billion people need to eat every day. This is an enormous global undertaking with an imposing carbon footprint. To solve climate change, we will have to learn how to feed the world virtually carbon-free. Our partnership with City Forest Credits and King County puts that goal within arm’s reach for our company, all while beautifying and protecting ecosystems in our community.

We continually work with our clients all over the world to evolve their carbon reduction programs in ways that will deliver benefits to their most important constituents. It’s a pleasure to be able to work with a program like this that ticks all the boxes: verified emission reductions, enhancing biodiversity and, uniquely, providing beautiful green space that can be enjoyed by Microsoft’s teams in Redmond.

King County and Fishermen’s Finest are leading by pioneering new pathways to address climate change. Preservation of urban trees brought the County and Fishermen’s Finest together in the first carbon credits issued and sold for urban forest preservation in the world. This represents an important pathway to greener, healthier, and more equitable cities and towns. This new public-private partnership is a model for metropolitan areas across the U.S.

American Forests salutes the work of King County and the critical contributions of Fishermen’s Finest. Their leadership in pioneering this innovative funding mechanism for urban forestry is providing a model for our work and that of our partner City Forest Credits in cities nationwide.

For more information, contact:

Chad Lewis, Executive Office, 206-263-1250