Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by The Climate Trust

Contact The Climate Trust through the form on their site (climatetrust.org/who-we-are/contact) — the form asks specifically whether you are a landowner interested in earning revenue from the carbon market. The Trust then meets landowners on their land, determines carbon project eligibility, and works through a project feasibility assessment before developing the project with no out-of-pocket costs for the landowner.

Office: Portland, Oregon. Senior Grassland Carbon Analyst Kate Brow is the program-level contact.

Kate Brow

Senior Grassland Carbon Analyst

The Climate Trust describes itself as the country's longest-standing source of carbon funding for grassland conservation. Rather than paying for practice change, its grassland projects pay ranchers for avoided conversion: the landowner places a perpetual conservation easement on their grassland, agreeing never to till or convert it to cropland, while continuing to graze cattle and run daily operations&#x2004;exactly as before. Keeping the soil intact avoids the large carbon emissions that conversion would release, and those avoided emissions generate carbon offsets.


A nonprofit with over 30 years in carbon markets, The Climate Trust works directly with landowners from the first site visit: determining eligibility, recording the easement with a land trust, modeling emissions, developing and monitoring the project, managing third-party verification, and selling the resulting credits on the landowner's behalf, returning revenue on an ongoing basis. It helped write the Climate Action Reserve Grassland Protocol in 2015 and the American Carbon Registry's Avoided Conversion of Grasslands Methodology in 2013, transacted the first ACR grassland conservation offsets in 2014, and formed the first rancher carbon cooperatives in the country.


The Trust aims to open carbon markets to family-owned ranches that historically could not access them because of high technical barriers and smaller holdings. Carbon revenue also stabilizes ranch income in drought years: when herds shrink, carbon volumes and revenue increase.



The Climate Trust describes itself as the country's longest-standing source of carbon funding for grassland conservation. Rather than paying for practice change, its grassland projects pay ranchers for avoided conversion: the landowner places a perpetual conservation easement on their grassland, agreeing never to till or convert it to cropland, while continuing to graze cattle and run daily operations exactly as before. Keeping the soil intact avoids the large carbon emissions that conversion would release, and those avoided emissions generate carbon offsets.

A nonprofit with over 30 years in carbon markets, The Climate Trust works directly with landowners from the first site visit: determining eligibility, recording the easement with a land trust, modeling emissions, developing and monitoring the project, managing third-party verification, and selling the resulting credits on the landowner's behalf, returning revenue on an ongoing basis. It helped write the Climate Action Reserve Grassland Protocol in 2015 and the American Carbon Registry's Avoided Conversion of Grasslands Methodology in 2013, transacted the first ACR grassland conservation offsets in 2014, and formed the first rancher carbon cooperatives in the country.

The Trust aims to open carbon markets to family-owned ranches that historically could not access them because of high technical barriers and smaller holdings. Carbon revenue also stabilizes ranch income in drought years: when herds shrink, carbon volumes and revenue increase.

- Grassland at risk of conversion to cropland; the program's value rests on avoiding that conversion.
- Willingness to record a perpetual conservation easement on the property, held by a qualified local land trust. Grazing and ranch operations must comply with the conservation easement terms and values.
- The Climate Trust works with family-owned ranches and smaller holdings, including through rancher carbon cooperatives. A minimum acreage of 2,000 eligible acres is required.
- Active grassland projects are located in Montana, Oregon, Colorado, and Kansas.

A contract to sell an environmental outcome the operation produces - sequestered carbon, a water-quality credit, a habitat credit - to a buyer, rather than receiving an award. Payment is typically per unit (per acre or per ton CO2e) over a multi-year term and contingent on verification, so records using this instrument carry the payment.* and contract.* fields rather than award.min/award.max. Covers both credit-generating programs, where credits are sold to outside buyers, and supply-chain insetting programs, where a company the operation already sells to pays for the practice.

Environmental Market

Livestock

Cattle

Pigs

Poultry

Sheep

Specialty Livestock

Beef Cattle

Dairy Cattle

Feeder Cattle

Slaughter Cattle

Calves

Heifers

Steers

Bulls

Barrows

Boars

Feeder Pigs

Hogs

Sows

Chickens

Cornish Hens

Ducks

Geese

Turkey

Ewes

Lambs

Rams

Alpacas

Beefalo

Bison

Buffalo

Caribou

Deer

Emus

Goats

Guinea Pigs

Llamas

Mink

Mohair

Ostrich

Pheasants

Quail

Rabbits

Reindeer

Water Buffalo

Beef Bottom Round

Beef Brisket

Beef Chuck Roast

Beef Eye Round

Beef Flank Steak

Beef Flat Iron Steak

Beef Heart

Beef Liver

Beef London Broil

Beef NY Strip Steak

Beef Oxtail

Beef Rib Steak

Beef Rump Roast

Beef Short Ribs

Beef Sirloin

Beef Sirloin Tip Roast

Beef Skirt Steak

Beef Soup Bones

Beef Stew Meat

Beef Tongue

Beef Top Round

Beef Whole Filet

Ground Beef

Broilers

Chicks

Fryers

Layers

Pullets

Roasters

Ducklings

Goslings

Poults

Toms

Ground Lamb

Lamb Chops

Lamb Heart

Lamb Leg

Lamb Liver

Lamb Shank

Lamb Shoulder

Lamb Stew Meat

Bison Calf

Bison Meat

Bucks

Nannies

Slaughter Goats

Soil Health

Air Quality

Certification

High Tunnel

Landscape

Wildlife & Pollinator Habitat

Reduced Tillage

Certified Organic

Certified Grassfed

Cover Crops

Regenerative

Conservation

Carbon Capture

Structure. The landowner grants a perpetual conservation easement restricting conversion of grassland to cropland. The carbon project itself runs on a 20-year agreement with The Climate Trust, during which the landowner provides annual monitoring data and allows periodic rangeland health assessments; the land trust holding the easement continues to monitor the property separately. The easement is permanent — unlike term contracts, this commitment binds the land in perpetuity, which is what makes the avoided emissions creditable.

Payment. The Climate Trust offers flexible payment models depending on the conservation easement's funding layout, letting landowners choose to receive money upfront or every two years following the verification cycle. Payments are made directly to landowners and are subject to current market prices.

Contact The Climate Trust through the form at https://climatetrust.org/contact/ or by phone at (503) 238-1915; TCT starts with a free feasibility study and site visit.

Deadline text on the page: No deadline published; landowners contact TCT at any time.

General office

Madeline Montague

Director of Forest Carbon Development

Jeremy Koslowski

Director, Forest Carbon Partnerships

The Climate Trust develops improved forest management (IFM) carbon projects with private and public forest owners, land trusts and Tribal nations. TCT finances project development, pays third-party verification costs, and markets and sells the resulting carbon offsets, sharing the revenue with the landowner. Sustainable timber harvesting continues under the project.



- Approximately 2,000+/- acres of land, which do not need to be contiguous (IFM Landowner Guide)
- Must be non-federal land and comes with a 40-year Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) or 100-year regulatory market commitment (IFM Landowner Guide)
- Must be enrolled in a third-party certification system for active timber management (IFM Landowner Guide)
- Works with private and public forest owners, including land trusts and Tribal nations (web page)

A payment that requires some percentage of matching contributions by the recipient.

Cost Share

Landowner enters a 20-year partnership with TCT and receives a revenue share of carbon sales (IFM Landowner Guide); underlying registry commitment of 40 years (VCM) or 100 years (regulatory market). Revenue share percentage not published.

Published amounts: We finance, develop, and manage the entire carbon project. This includes paying for third-party costs at no markup, issuing offsets, and marketing and selling offsets for the best price to generate a new revenue stream for landowners. (IFM Landowner Guide: "We provide a free feasibility study. We fund all startup costs.")

There is no deadline. Contact The Climate Trust through the contact form on its website or call (503) 238-1915 to discuss your land. The Climate Trust offers a free evaluation of project feasibility, then visits the site and designs a reforestation project with native, site-appropriate seedlings.

The Climate Trust Contact

Victoria Lockhart

Director of Reforestation

The Climate Trust, a nonprofit carbon organization, pays for and manages tree planting on land hit by wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disturbances, and on land that has been out of forest use for at least 10 years. Where eligible, the replanted forest is enrolled in a carbon offset project, and the landowner and The Climate Trust share the carbon revenue over a 40-year term. The work is supported by a U.S. Department of Agriculture agreement.



- Private, Tribal, or non-federal public land.
- Land deforested by a natural disturbance such as wildfire, or in a non-forest use (such as pasture) for the preceding 10 years.
- Minimum size: The Climate Trust's reforestation page lists a 500-acre total minimum, while its November 2025 landowner guide lists at least 100 total plantable acres. Acreage can combine multi-year plantings, separate parcels or multiple ownerships. Ask The Climate Trust which minimum applies to your land.
- Interest in reforestation and long-term sustainable forest management.
- Willing to forgo regeneration harvests until the 40-year term ends.

A lump sum of money for a specific purpose that does not need to be paid back.

Grant

Timber

Forest Products

Forestry

- The Climate Trust pays for and manages tree planting, including site preparation and post-establishment treatments, and funds all startup costs.
- The landowner and The Climate Trust enter a 40-year partnership in which The Climate Trust develops, manages and sells the carbon offsets.
- The landowner receives a 50/50 share of carbon sales once third-party costs are repaid.
- The landowner keeps all timber revenue from thinnings and gives The Climate Trust access for planting and monitoring.

List of The Climate Trust Funding Opportunities