USDA and Partners Complete First-of-its-Kind Sale of Carbon Credits

A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant has helped initiate a partnership that is improving the environment. Chevrolet, a division of General Motors, purchased nearly 40,000 carbon dioxide reduction tons generated on working ranch grasslands in the Prairie Pothole region of North Dakota. The amount of carbon dioxide removed from our atmosphere by Chevrolet’s purchase of carbon credits equals the amount that would be reduced by taking more than 5,000 cars off the road,” Secretary Vilsack said. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) awarded $161,000 through a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) to Ducks Unlimited in 2011 to develop the necessary methodology to quantify the carbon stored in the soil by avoiding grassland conversions, resulting in the generation of carbon credits.  Learn how the carbon credit system works by reading more.