Roarke Regenerative Land Management

Carbon Offset Credits are a confusing and unregulated market–we know. For transparency, we have attempted to outline all of our methodology, including the elements that we are working to refine. If you have further questions after reading, please contact press@roarke.org.

Roarke Regenerative Land Management Carbon Offset Credits are representative of the carbon content removed from the atmosphere and absorbed into the biomass of Roarke planted trees (and other flora) during the process of photosynthetic growth. Sounds complicated, right? Let’s break it down.

During regular growth, plants take in carbon dioxide as a part of photosynthesis, turning it into solid, carbon-dense plant material, like bark, wood, roots, and leaves. Perennials, trees in particular, are excellent for carbon-capture as they continually grow large, rigid trunks that allow for many decades of efficient carbon storage. 

This growth is extraordinarily well-documented by many scientific organizations including the US Forest Service, and thus, has many standards and benchmarks available for us to compare our success against. Many scientific studies have broken down the composition (including carbon content), average growth rates, and life expectancy of a variety of species we plant. When we take samples of plant mass from our trees, this data provides the framework for calculating the volume of carbon-dioxide taken in by our efforts. Statistics like composition, mass of the whole tree, health, soil data, and age all are calculated to determine how much of our growth is attributable to carbon dioxide intake.

Recurring periodic analysis of the trees we plant allows us to track growth and determine accurate calculations of the carbon intake of each tree individually, which we then tokenize to become Carbon Offset Credits for the general public. However, in the interest of recognizing the evolving science that backs our work, we have elected to use conservative calculations and models that guarantee our impact, rather than optimistic estimates that may overrepresent our efforts. As a result, we estimate that our carbon-emissions removal may likely be ~20% more than we advertise, but we prefer the confidence of sticking to what we are sure has been delivered.

We are actively working to refine the science that backs our process by producing our own data that can be presented for collective consideration and analysis. We have the unique position of raising large quantities of plants from seed, making our data comprehensive and backed by an ever-growing sample size. If you are interested in supporting our work by offering to help gather data at a Roarke-supported parcel near you, contact communitypartners@roarke.org for more information.

While there are not yet CFTC regulations explicitly governing the production and certification of Carbon Offset Credits in the VCM, we regularly consult with guidelines, available information, and proposed plans to ensure future readiness for compliance. We look forward to stricter regulation of the space, as we feel many similar, for-profit companies are profiteering off of flexible definitions, pseudoscience, and well-intentioned consumers.