The American Forest Foundation, a U.S.-based conservation organization, and The Nature Conservancy launched the pioneering Family Forest Carbon Program to make it possible for family lands, deemed too small for traditional carbon projects, to participate in the carbon market. Across the country, the project will work with 7,500 landowners and almost 600,000 acres through 2028. In order to measure the amount of carbon sequestered, the program has created an innovative methodology that uses regularly updated, observed baselines to compare 'business-as-usual' scenarios. This helps to precisely measure the changes occurring specifically due to the project, increasing confidence that the carbon savings are truly additional.

This project is helping to unlock the full potential of carbon storage in American forests. It removes the barriers previously hindering landowners to sustainably manage and protect their forests by providing them with trusted tools and information, and new income streams so more carbon is sequestered in their forests. If just 20% of family landowners implemented sustainable practices on their land by 2030, they would sequester an additional 50 million metric tons of CO2 every year!