Frequently Asked Questions

Acorn ensures the integrity of its carbon credits through rigorous methodologies and adherence to established standards. This includes regular monitoring, verification, and reporting of carbon sequestration activities, as well as alignment with CCP's criteria for transparency and accuracy.

When you buy Acorn credits, you are purchasing actual CO2 stored in planted trees (often referred to as ‘ex post’) – not the prevention of emissions, as is the case in many other programs. Acorn units are sold after the fact, when the trees have already converted CO2 into biomass. We measure stored CO2 on a smallholder farmer’s land with the help of remote sensing technology.

We also offer buyers the possibility to pre-finance a project to or purchase ex-post CRUs through multi-year offtake contracts. These contracts play a catalytic role for Acorn to attract financing for our local partners. If this sounds interesting to you, please contact our sales team at sales@acorn.earth.

For each carbon credit sold as part of the Acorn program, at least 70% of the revenue flows back to the farmers, 15% goes to the local partner, and the remaining 15% goes to Acorn for administration and operational costs.

Our Acorn Biomass Model Report provides insight into the way we calculate the biomass changes in trees planted on smallholder farms.

To download our Acorn Biomass Model Report, please e-mail our team at info@acorn.earth or get in contact with us via our Contact Form.

To purchase carbon credits through Acorn, you can contact our sales team at sales@acorn.earth. They will guide you through the purchasing process, including pricing, payment options, and any necessary documentation.

We believe in our mission and commit ourselves to empowering smallholder farmers and fighting climate change. That also means that we want the organizations who buy our credits to make a real effort and not just buy a few carbon credits and tick a box.

To be eligible to purchase Acorn credits organizations must meet the following criteria:

1. Organizations should qualify as a business user and not a consumer.

2. Organizations must not be active in any of the following sectors:

   • oil and gas;

   • aviation;

   • mining, or;

   • other fossil fuels industries (this does not include power generation utilities who use fossil fuels to generate electricity for consumption).

3. At least one of the following measures should be in place:

   • a committed science-based target (SBTi) aligned to limiting a global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees;

   • is part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance;

   • a written strategy in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (publicly available or available to Acorn); reductions should be in line with the industry target of the SBTi standard;

   • proven greenhouse gas reduction (publicly available or available to Acorn), in line with the industry targets of the SBTi standard.

All Acorn credits are considered to be the same, across all of our projects. They adhere to the same standards and are developed under our Acorn Methodology and Framework. Therefore, they are all priced the same across all projects. We understand that different buyers might have different geographical preferences and are open to discuss these.

Smallholder farmers are hit hardest by climate change. Desertification, extreme rain or extreme drought and rising temperatures are all problems they face on a daily basis. Smallholder farmers also have limited access to financing and therefore cannot easily invest in their own futures or resilience. We hope to change this by supporting these farmers, and agroforestry offers an answer. Agroforestry means healthier soil, better yields, and diversification of both nutrients and income. Planting trees, however, requires a relatively large investment. Through our projects, Acorn aims to facilitate such investments.

Acorn partners with organizations that have a trusted relationship with smallholder farmers and are committed to agroforestry and innovative projects in the voluntary carbon market. Partners must meet the following conditions:

• ‍Legal right to sell carbon credits without restrictions.

• Project includes new or existing agroforestry (trees planted within the last 5 years).

• No deforestation in the project area in the last 5 years.

• No current sales of carbon credits or monetization of CO2 sequestration.

• Each farmer cultivates between 0.1 and 10 hectares.

• Local engagement and capacity to sustain the project for at least 20 years.

• Proof of land tenure for each farmer.

Preferred project coordinators include NGOs, farmers’ co-ops, trading companies, and governments. For a detailed checklist, please refer to the Acorn Framework.

Acorn projects are either certified by the Verra or Plan Vivo standard. Our projects and credits also undergo extensive third-party verification.

Depending on geographic location, the requirements for successful agroforestry vary wildly. Even within one project, different systems may be needed. So to ensure a suitable agroforestry design in the local context with native species, our agroforestry team co-develops each project’s agroforestry design together with local experts and communities.

Acorn credits are purchased by corporates to accelerate their climate action on a voluntary basis. These credits are therefore not used for domestic or international compliance under a regulated regime.

As a result, the emission reductions arising from the smallholder agroforestry systems that Acorn stimulates are not reflected in any official accounts. That means that Acorn’s credits are not debited from the host country’s account and not added to the national account of our buyer’s country.

At Acorn, we believe that climate finance should not be impeded while the international community works towards a standardized international infrastructure to ensure corresponding adjustments for voluntary transactions. Countries and smallholder farmers need action today, and we are proud to contribute towards the Paris goals of host countries, specifically when it comes to meeting their conditional NDC targets.

Acorn tries to actively mitigate policy risks through policy advocacy with relevant government institutions, highlighting the co-benefits of Acorn that go beyond the sale of carbon credits. Acorn aims to be as transparent as possible with governments and provides briefings to governmental bodies to disclose our framework, methodology, project scope and avoid carbon reduction goal overlap in the host country.

Obtaining a letter of no objection can be a lengthy process due to changing administrations in government and climate ambitions and NDC commitments being in a state of flux. Still, Acorn endeavors to engage with governments to get these letters of no objection or submit a formal letter of notification. When a country allows for a formal process of gaining a letter of no objection, we work with our local partners to ensure full compliance.

Acorn engages with carbon clubs and has established formal partnerships with AFoCO (Asia), West African Alliance on Carbon Markets (West Africa), and Partnership for Agricultural Carbon (Latin America). We are likewise exploring other partnerships to engage with governments on a multilateral and regional level to shape policymaking.