How It Works

Developing a Project and Receiving Credits through Climate Forward

Companies, organizations and other entities that develop projects and are credited Forecast Mitigation Units® (FMUs) are called Project Proponents. They must be Climate Forward account holders to participate in the program. Projects may be developed according to a forecast methodology that has already been approved or the Project Proponent may choose to submit a new forecast methodology for Climate Forward review and approval.

Please see the section on Methodologies for additional information.

Acquiring Climate Forward Credits for Retirement

Companies, organizations and other entities that need to mitigate emissions from future projects will find FMUs to be the ideal option. In some instances, an entity needing FMUs may be a Project Proponent that developed its own project and was directly credited FMUs. If an entity is not a Project Proponent itself, it may connect directly with Project Proponents to arrange the purchase and transfer of FMUs.

Recommending and Supporting the Use of Climate Forward

Government agencies, law firms, urban planners, advocacy groups and others may recommend the use of Climate Forward for regulatory compliance and voluntary purposes because of the rigorous, transparent nature of the program.

Climate Forward Program Fee Schedule

The Reserve imposes required fees that are charged to account holders during the project submittal and registration process. A summary of those fees is below:

Account and Credit Issuance Fees
Account Setup Fee Fee charged upon application for an account	$500
Project Submittal Fee (per project) Fee charged upon submission of a project under a Reserve-approved forecast methodology	$500
Issuance Fee (per credit) Fee charged per credit issued after a project has received final approval from the Reserve	$0.25
Transfer Fee (per credit, paid by transferor) Fee charged for the transfer of credits between account holders	$0.05
Retirement (per credit retired) Fee charged to move credits to a locked retirement account and issue retirement certificate	No charge

The Reserve imposes required fees that are charged to methodology developers during the methodology submittal and review process. For scenarios that are not clearly described in the below table, the Reserve maintains the right to make a case by case determination on the appropriate fee to be charged. A summary of fees related to methodology submittal and review is below:

Methodology Approval Fees
Review fee for new methodologies and modifications to Reserve-approved forecast methodologies [1]	$7,500
Peer review fee for new methodologies and methodology revisions [2]	Variable
Review fee per new default value for an existing parameter within relevant methodology parameters document	$500
Reforestation – Review fee for new projection (quantification parameter, per projection)[3]	$1,500

[1] The methodology screening fee includes two rounds of internal review by the Reserve. The methodology screening fee may be increased for additional reviews, if necessary.

[2] The cost for peer review is based on the cost of external third-party experts to participate in the evaluation of the methodology. These costs will be based on the complexity of the methodology and resulting time and expertise required for peer review.