44475.
(a) A business entity that is marketing or selling voluntary carbon offsets within the state state, on or after July 1, 2025, shall disclose on the business entity’s internet website all of the following information:(a) (1) Details regarding the applicable carbon offset project, including all of the following information:
(A) The project identification number, if applicable.
(B) The project name as listed in the registry or program, if applicable.
(1) (C) The specific protocol used to estimate emissions reductions or removal benefits.
(2) (D) The location of the offset project site.
(3) (E) The project timeline. project’s crediting period.
(4) (F) The date when the project started or will start. project start date.
(5) (G) The dates and quantities when a specified quantity of emissions reductions or removals started or will start, or was modified or reversed. year of issuance, vintage period, and vintage quantity associated with the credits and if there have been any modifications or reversals.
(6) (H) The type of project, including whether the offsets from the project are derived from a carbon removal, an avoided emission, or, in the case of a project with both carbon removals and avoided emissions, the or both. If the offsets are derived from both a carbon removal and an avoided emission, the information shall include the percentage breakdown of offsets from each. each if provided in the project documentation for offsets issued prior to July 1, 2025, and for all offsets issued after July 1, 2025.
(7) (I) Whether the project meets any standards established by law or by a nonprofit entity.
(8) (J) The durability period for any project that the seller knows or should know that the durability of the project’s greenhouse gas reductions or greenhouse gas removal enhancements is less than the atmospheric lifetime of carbon dioxide emissions. period over which carbon storage is required by law or contract to be monitored for reversals and to have any reversals reported, verified, and compensated for any project that is credited for carbon storage, including emission reductions and removal enhancements in natural systems and through other carbon removal activities. The mechanism or mechanisms by which carbon storage reversals will be compensated shall be explicitly specified, including any different mechanisms that might apply to intentional and unintentional reversals.
(9) (K) Whether there is independent expert or third-party validation or verification of the project attributes. Verification by third parties required by a registry shall constitute independent third-party verification.
(10) (L) Emissions reduced or carbon removed on an annual basis.
(b) (2) Details regarding accountability measures if a project is not completed or does not meet the projected emissions reductions or removal benefits, including, but not limited to, details regarding what actions the entity, either directly or by contractual obligation, shall take under both of the following circumstances: if credited carbon storage experiences a reversal.
(1) If carbon storage projects are reversed.
(2) If future emissions reductions do not materialize.
(c) (3) The pertinent data and calculation methods needed to independently reproduce and verify the number of emissions reduction or removal credits issued using the protocol.
(d) (b) For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply: A business entity that markets and resells a voluntary carbon offset within the state that it has not generated may satisfy the requirements of this section by publishing on the business entity’s internet website sufficient information to direct the buyer to the disclosure made by the business entity who generated the voluntary carbon offset pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a), including the project identification number, if applicable. A business entity may comply with this section when marketing or reselling voluntary carbon offsets directly to “eligible contract participants,” as defined in paragraph (18) of Section 1a of Title 7 of the United States Code, and the rules promulgated thereunder, by furnishing the information directly to the buyer at the time of settlement.
(1) (c) “Durability” means the duration of time over which an offset project operator commits to maintain its greenhouse gas reductions and greenhouse gas removal enhancements, as applicable, exclusive of any aspirational outcomes that exceed or extend beyond the mandatory outcomes required of the offset project pursuant to its offset protocol. A business entity may satisfy the requirements of this section by publishing on the business entity’s internet website sufficient information to direct the buyer to each applicable project-specific disclosure published on a registry pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a), including the project identification number, if applicable. General information to direct the buyer to a business entity’s entitywide or programwide disclosures is not sufficient.
(d) For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:
(2) (1) “Protocol” means a documented set of procedures and requirements to quantify ongoing greenhouse gas reductions or greenhouse gas removal enhancements achieved by an offset project and to calculate the project baseline, including specification of relevant data collection and monitoring procedures, emission factors, and methodologies used to conservatively account for uncertainty and activity-shifting and market-shifting leakage risks associated with an offset project.
(2) “Reversal” means an outcome in which carbon storage for which a carbon offset has been issued is subsequently released or emitted back to the atmosphere. Many carbon offsetting programs distinguish between intentional and unintentional reversals according to whether the reversal was within the control of one or more parties involved in the carbon offset project.
(3) (A) “Voluntary carbon offset” means any product tradable instrument sold or marketed in the state other than those exempted pursuant to subparagraph (B) that claims to be a “greenhouse gas emissions offset,” a “voluntary emissions reduction,” a “retail offset,” or any like term, that connotes that the product represents or corresponds to a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere or that prevents the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that would have otherwise been emitted.
(B) “Voluntary carbon offset” does not include products tradable instruments that represent or correspond to legal or regulatory mandates for either of the following:
(i) Reduction of the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere.
(ii) Prevention of the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.