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For credit generators

Turn the carbon stored on your land into credits

More fertile soil, trees in fields, new forests or additional management of existing ones: under the European CRCF rules, the carbon you retain becomes credits that companies buy.

Check if you can generate credits

Are you a technical adviser? Contact us

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The opportunity

By 2030, EU agricultural and forest land must absorb an additional 40–55 million tonnes of CO2 each year. That is why the EU created the CRCF, the first European rules for certifying carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored in soil and trees.

Market data prices these agricultural carbon credits at €40–50 and forest credits at €25–35.

One carbon credit represents one tonne of CO2 equivalent removed from the atmosphere.

The market in Europe, including Italy, is just emerging: those who start today get there first.

Methodology based on the EU CRCF Regulation
CRCF agricultural credits
Regenerative agriculture, agroforestry and new forest projects.
Currently outside the CRCF; we follow PEFC methodologies
Forest credits
Existing forests. The rules are based on PEFC methodologies. Contact us.
CRCF-like methodologies
A different project?
If your project falls outside the CRCF or PEFC frameworks, we will develop methodologies together using the same QU.A.L.ITY criteria required by the CRCF.

How much is a similar credit worth?

In France, a credit from an agricultural project is worth about €45 per tonne of CO2 equivalent, while a forest credit is worth between €25 and €35. This is about four times the average price of international credits: companies pay more for local, verified credits. The CRCF brings the same approach across Europe.

Why do credits increase over time?

Because carbon accumulates. In the early years of an agroforestry project, the trees are young and small, so fewer credits are generated. Each project year adds new carbon to what has already accumulated: the sooner you start, the sooner you reach full capacity.

I have only a few hectares. Can I join with other businesses?

Yes, and it is often the most economical choice. Nearby businesses can form a group of operators, with a cooperative, consortium or association as lead organisation, for example. The group has one project and one technical adviser, and everyone shares the cost of documents and checks. The certification body visits a sample of businesses rather than every one.

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2023/839; European Commission, COM(2025) 668, 6 November 2025, section 4; European Commission, COM(2021) 800, 15 December 2021; I4CE, January 2026;

Explore the registry →
CRCF

What aligned with the CRCF means

For farmland and new forests, we use Climate Standard methodologies built on European CRCF rules. Until the scheme is recognised, any credits issued and recorded by Climate Standard are not CRCF-certified credits or units in the EU registry: alignment concerns the methodologies and does not amount to recognition.

Whether and how previously issued credits can qualify under the CRCF will depend on the applicable rules and verification. Activities in existing forests instead follow the PEFC programme, a separate path from the CRCF.

CRCF and voluntary standards: the differences →

You run the project. Climate Standard takes it from the rules to the registry.

Climate Standard is the certification system: it writes project rules based on European CRCF methodologies, organises checks and maintains the public credit registry.

The five steps

01 · Preparation

You: Gather proof of your rights to the land, parcel maps, land use over the past three years and public subsidies. Your technical adviser compares the project's financial figures with the current situation, then writes the activity and monitoring plans.

Climate Standard: Gives you access to the portal and checks that the documents are complete.

02 · Plan review

You: Upload the documents to the portal.

Climate Standard: Appoints the certification body, which checks the documents.

03 · Activity period

You: Apply the practices, record them and take measurements.

Climate Standard: Keeps you informed about rules and updates.

04 · Results review

You: Upload the monitoring report and welcome the certification body for the site visit.

Climate Standard: Organises the check. The body issues the certificate, and only then are credits created.

05 · Credits in the registry

You: Sell the credits through Climate Standard's public registry (which will move to the European Commission by 2028, further increasing the number of potential buyers).

Climate Standard: Registers the credits in the public registry and introduces them to companies and brokers.

Why work with Climate Standard

  1. You do not choose who checks your project. As a rule, Climate Standard selects and pays the certification body.
  2. The credits are yours. The people who generate credits sell them, directly to companies or through brokers. Climate Standard is building a broker network and does not take a sales commission.
  3. You know the cost from the start. You receive a written quote before you begin.
  4. You do not spend money in vain. If the project cannot go ahead, we tell you immediately, before you spend money on surveys and checks.

What you receive, and when

  • Right away: a team member explains the rules and checks your project documents.
  • After Climate Standard is recognised and the certification body completes its check: CRCF credits in the registry, each with its own code, and a public project page.
  • How often: credits from trees can be certified every year, and credits from soil every 3–5 years.

Projects you can develop

Agricultural activities under European CRCF rules

Increasing soil carbon
Cover crops, less tillage, longer rotations: the soil retains more organic matter. This is regenerative agriculture.
View the methodology →
Agroforestry
Plant trees, rows of trees or hedges on land that remains agricultural.
View the methodology →
Reducing fertilisers (N2O)
Use less nitrogen fertiliser. This is combined with increasing soil carbon or agroforestry.
View the methodology →
New forest (afforestation)
Plant a new forest on a meadow, a field or land with almost no trees for at least twenty years.
View the methodology →

Forest activities under the PEFC programme

These activities do not produce CRCF credits
Converting coppice to high forest.
Stop cutting coppice at the end of its rotation and convert it to high forest. The forest keeps growing and storing carbon.
View the methodology →
These activities do not produce CRCF credits
Extending the rotation.
Delay the final harvest scheduled in the plan. Growth during the extra years becomes credits, and the timber is not lost: you harvest it later.
View the methodology →
These activities do not produce CRCF credits
Partially forgoing a harvest.
Leave standing part of the forest scheduled for harvest in the plan, starting from half a hectare. Harvest the rest as planned.
View the methodology →
These activities do not produce CRCF credits
Reforestation.
Replant a forest lost to fire, wind damage, landslides or pests where it would struggle to return on its own. This differs from a new forest: there was already a forest here.
View the methodology →
These activities do not produce CRCF credits
Protecting natural regeneration.
Protect young trees from deer browsing with fences or individual guards until they are large enough.
View the methodology →

Costs

You pay for audits and a small fee for each credit issued. There is no fixed annual fee to remain in the registry.

Not sure how many credits to enter? Estimate them in the section below.
Calculate your project's costs and value

Estimate how many credits you could generate, and remember that you can generate credits whenever you choose, from once a year to once every five years.

10050.000
Indicative issuance cost

€5,000

Audit that generates credits: €4,000

Issuance, 1,000 credits: €1,000

Indicative gross value

€45,000

Reference value per credit: about €45

About €45 per tonne is the value of agricultural credits under the French Label Bas-Carbone (I4CE, January 2026); the reference for PEFC forest credits is €25–35. This is neither a guaranteed price nor an offer to buy. It is an estimate: the actual cost is in the written quote you receive before starting.

Audit that generates credits

€4,000 per audit

Every year for agroforestry, new forests and forest activities; every 3–5 years for soil carbon.

Credit issuance

€1.00 for the first 2,500 · €0.78 from 2,501 to 10,000 · €0.68 above 10,000

For each credit when it enters the registry. Fees are tiered: each band of credits pays its own rate. Some projects pay when they sell the credit.

The certification body's cost is included in the audit price: as a rule, Climate Standard selects and pays it. Technical advisers, field surveys and analyses are not included.

You can pay later: for some projects, the fee for each credit issued can be paid when you sell the credit rather than when it is issued; your quote will specify this. The amount stays the same and does not depend on the sale price.

No commission on credit sales.

How many credits you can generate

An estimate in two minutes: location, area, landscape type and activity.

When to start

If you have already started, or are starting now

Climate Standard projects follow methodologies based on the European CRCF Regulation from day one. If you started the activity between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2027, you are still eligible for the CRCF.

Which years can become CRCF credits also depends on when Climate Standard receives recognition.

Do credits really matter for my project?

This is the first thing we check. Credits are intended to make projects possible when they would not otherwise be financially viable: without credits, your project must make a loss or earn less than how you currently use the land, or would use it at full capacity without the project. Even a difference of €1 is enough. Your technical adviser demonstrates this by comparing two financial plans, the project and the land's use without it, in the spreadsheet we provide; the certification body checks the result. Public subsidies count in the calculation; credit revenue does not.

Do I have to own the land?

No. Rented, borrowed or concession land is also acceptable, provided you have the right to use it throughout the activity period. For the final years, when there are only checks, the owner only needs to commit in writing to preserving the carbon and allowing the checks.

How large does the land need to be?

There is no minimum area. But if your land is small, joining a group with other businesses lowers costs: see how it works.

I receive CAP subsidies. Can I take part?

Yes, provided you declare them all: the certification body checks them. If the subsidies alone already cover the full cost of the activity, you cannot receive credits.

I have already started the activity. Can I take part?

If you started the activity between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2027, you are still within the CRCF framework. If you started earlier but can demonstrate that the practice is additional to business as usual, you may qualify for CRCF-like credits. They will be on our registry but will not also be issued on the Community Registry.

Check if you can generate credits

Bring the details of your land: we will tell you whether it makes sense to start.

What do you have in mind?
The land is
The activity is