USDA Publishes Request For Information To Support Next Steps In Implementing The Growing Climate Solutions Act

The input is being collected through a Request for Information and will be considered in the preparation of a proposed rule to establish the program. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the release of the Request for Information at an event at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC this morning entitled, “Advancing a Low-Carbon American Economy Through High-Integrity Voluntary Carbon Markets and Industrial Strategy.”

The program is authorized under the Growing Climate Solutions Act (GCSA), part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. As part of USDA’s implementation of the GCSA, in October 2023 the Department published A General Assessment of the Role of Agriculture and Forestry in the U.S. Carbon Markets (PDF, 1.7 MB), a comprehensive look at current market activity, barriers to participation, and opportunities to improve access to high-integrity carbon markets for farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners.

Establishing the new Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program is the next step in implementing the GCSA. The new program would facilitate better technical assistance by providing a list of qualified technical assistance providers and third-party verifiers who work with producers to generate credible carbon credits, enabling USDA to share trusted information and reduce market confusion. USDA would also list widely accepted voluntary carbon credit protocols designed to ensure consistency, reliability, effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency.

USDA’s Request for Information will publish in the Federal Register on May 29, 2024 and is seeking feedback on provisions of the GCSA including:

1. Options for interpreting and applying criteria used to evaluate protocols that are designed to ensure consistency, reliability, effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency.
2. Information pertaining to specific protocols to be evaluated for inclusion in the program.
3. Qualifications needed by covered entities who provide technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, or private forest landowners.
4. Qualifications needed by covered entities who serve as third party verifiers of processes described in protocols for voluntary environmental credit markets.

Following this request for information USDA will also seek industry participation in an advisory committee to further inform the development of this and related programs.