The Climate Action Reserve is an environmentalist nonprofit organization that has partnered with California and other states to issue carbon credits and operates a registry to facilitate the sale of credits meant to companies and organizations. ¹

The Climate Action Reserve processes applications for carbon credits to comply with greenhouse gas reduction mandates of states, including California and Washington, and uses a proprietary “protocol” for determining if the applications comply with the mandates. It generates revenue through fees that companies and organizations pay to operate accounts with Climate Action Reserve. ¹

Background

The Climate Action Reserve is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2001 to create a protocol for quantifying greenhouse gas emission reduction by companies and other organizations. It uses the protocol to issue and record carbon credits, which are called Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs). ¹

The Climate Action Reserve is an offshoot of the California Climate Action Registry (California Registry), a voluntary greenhouse gas registry that was created by the California Legislature in 2001. The California Registry created a procedure for reporting, verifying, and calculating emission reductions based on an organization’s proposed emission-reduction projects. It changed its name in 2008 to the Climate Action Reserve to expand its services internationally. ^{1 2}

The Climate Action Reserve maintains a list of carbon sequestration protocols for companies and organizations to engage in and use to earn carbon credits. ³ The protocols include specific activities eligible for the carbon credits as well as extensive guidelines for how the projects are conducted, documented, and verified. ⁴

State Partnerships

Climate Action Reserve is an approved Offset Project Registry under California’s Cap-and-Trade Compliance Offset Program, allowing it to issue Registry Offset Credits. The credits it issues are not directly eligible under the program, but they can be converted into Offset Credits under the Air Resources Board, which then makes them eligible under the program. ⁵

Climate Action Reserve is a partner of the Washington State Department of Ecology in reviewing and approving applications under its Offset Project Registry cap-and-invest program. The program was founded in 2021 to allow companies to purchase carbon credits from third-party carbon sequestration projects to comply with Washington’s carbon emissions reduction requirement for businesses that began in 2020 without having to alter their own activities. The Climate Action Reserve is one of two organizations that Washington has approved to serve as a registry for the credits. ^{6 7}

Climate Forward Program

The Climate Action Reserve has a Climate Forward Program that “targets” companies that are not required to engage in greenhouse gas reduction programs and advocates for them to engage in greenhouse gas reduction programs. The program promotes messaging that environmental destruction is set to occur because of greenhouse gas emissions. To address this, it campaigns to persuade companies to incorporate environmentalism in their activities. The program advocates for companies to purchase offset credits, which it sells, and for switching to environmentalist energy sources. ⁸

Leadership

Craig Ebert is the president of the Climate Action Reserve and has worked in the role since 2015. Previously, he was CEO of Ebert Consulting and senior vice president for ICF International, an international consulting firm that focuses on environmental issues. ⁹

Financials

In 2023, the Climate Action Reserve reported $4.7 million in revenue, including $3.0 million in program service revenue from issuing carbon credits and $1.2 million from hosting conferences. ^{10 11 12} It also reported $4.6 million in total expenses, including $2.7 million in salaries and compensation of employees. ¹³

1. “Climate Action Reserve.” Climate Offset Guide. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://offsetguide.org/understanding-carbon-offsets/carbon-offset-programs/voluntary-offset-programs/climate-action-reserve/.
2. “About Us.” Climate Action Reserve. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.climateactionreserve.org/about-us/.
3. “Protocols.” Climate Action Reserve. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/protocols/.
4. “Soil Enrichment.” Climate Action Reserve. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/protocols/ncs/soil-enrichment/.
5. “California Compliance Projects.” Climate Action Reserve. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/california-compliance-projects/.
6. “Cap-and-Invest Offsets.” State of Washington Department of Ecology. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate/Climate-Commitment-Act/Cap-and-invest/Offsets.
7. “Washington Cap-and-Invest Offset Program.” Climate Action Reserve. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.climateactionreserve.org/washington-cap-and-invest-offsets/.
8. “Exclusive Interview: Craig Ebert, President of Climate Action Reserve on the new Climate Forward Program.” CaliforniaCarbon. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.ccarbon.info/exclusive-interview-craig-ebert-president-of-climate-action-reserve-on-the-new-climate-forward-program/.
9. “Craig Ebert.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigebert/.
10. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Climate Action Reserve. 2023. Part I, Line 12.
11. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Climate Action Reserve. 2023. Part III, Line 4a.
12. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Climate Action Reserve. 2023. Part VIII, Line 2b.
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Climate Action Reserve. 2023. Part I, Lines 15-18.