Businesses

Solutions for Healthy Ecosystems
and a Reduced-Carbon Climate

Solutions that address the challenge of a changing climate.

Green Diamond believes carbon projects offer a way to participate meaningfully in addressing the climate crisis while allowing us to continue to be good stewards of the land. We own and/or manage 2.2 million acres of timberland across the U.S., and experienced staff continue to develop high-quality carbon projects that provide long-term climate benefits.

Green Diamond is among the largest owner-operators of improved forest management (IFM) projects. These include carbon removal projects, in which we acquire and manage forests with the specific aim of materially increasing carbon sequestration. To date, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has issued 4.5 million compliance credits to Green Diamond carbon projects. Currently, we have IFM projects, either active or in development, in Oregon, California, Montana and Alabama; and we are working on several reforestation, afforestation and extended rotation age projects.

When it comes to carbon sequestration, the capacity of forests is unparalleled.

Forests naturally absorb carbon and store it in the soil, plants and trees. Through careful management practices, we can enhance that ability and provide important ecosystem and climate-focused solutions.

Among carbon markets, carbon removal credits are highly desired in terms of additionality. That means we use realistic baselines that are defensible under business-as-usual operations. We also prioritize permanence in our project selection—meaning we choose projects with an extended timeline to ensure long-lasting change. Currently, all our projects will be monitored for 100 years following the last credit issuance per CARB protocol.

Project Profiles

We have approximately 700,000 acres in active carbon banks in Oregon, California and Alabama, along with 300,000 acres in Montana that are under development for projects slated to begin in 2023. Within our existing carbon projects, 635,000 acres are in projects where Green Diamond is the offset project operator. All the carbon credits we have issued to date are compliance credits registered with CARB, which has rigorous project verification. We are focused on accelerating the expansion of our portfolio as we bring in new investment partners, and aim to sequester a million tons of carbon each in the following regions:

“Microsoft’s work is really groundbreaking in its recognition of the importance of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, not just reducing emissions. We are delighted to be able to offer carbon removal credits to Microsoft as they work to become carbon negative by 2030.”

Green Diamond President
Douglas Reed

In 2014, we bought approximately 635,000 acres of timberland in south-central Oregon near Klamath Lake. The existing tree stand is very young on this timberland, due to practices that pre-date our ownership. Here, we have established two IFM projects—Klamath East and Klamath West—through CARB. We sold our first carbon offsets in the region in 2018 and estimate that the property will sequester between 400,000 and 600,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) per year. In 2021, we sold a quarter million tons of these carbon removal credits to Microsoft, representing a significant portion of the company’s fiscal year 2021 carbon removal portfolio.

Klamath East
and West 2018 first carbon
offset sale

Klamath
West 185K acres

120–150 estimated mtCO2e
removed per year

Klamath
East 450K acres

180 estimated mtCO2e
removed per year

In 2021, we acquired approximately 300,000 acres of timberland in northwest Montana. Like our property in southern Oregon, the Montana timberlands are forested with native species, but the existing tree stands are very young. The property’s age made it a strong candidate for carbon projects, along with its potential for social and environmental benefits. For example, by keeping the property intact and opening it to public access, we can provide a public good while improving the forest’s health. We plan to develop three carbon projects on the property by 2023 and anticipate sequestering between 200,000 and 300,000 mtCO2e per year once these projects are fully developed.

Northwest Montana

300K acres

200K–300K total estimated mtCO2e
removed per year

3 carbon projects under
development for 2023

Within California, we have listed three different projects for reforestation and forest improvement:

Moore Tract Reforestation Project

Following the 2020 Slater Fire, approximately 3,500 acres of burned timberlands will undergo reforestation.

Humboldt Mixed Forest IFM Project

In 2019, we made 33,000 acres in Northern California available to a third party that developed a Climate Action Reserve (CAR) carbon project. The project focuses on retaining hardwood-dominated stands that have a rich capacity for carbon storage. In 2030, Green Diamond will assume offset project operator responsibility and begin to manage the annual issuance of removal credits generated via forest growth.

As property manager for Twin Creeks Timber, Green Diamond Management Company made a portion of their Alabama timberlands available for a third-party CAR IFM carbon project. This project is focused on retaining natural hardwood stands, and credits have been pre-sold by a third party. In 2024, we will assume offset project operator responsibility and begin to manage the annual issuance of removal credits generated via forest growth.