What are carbon credits?
A carbon credit is a tradable certificate that can be purchased by another entity. A credit represents that you have a validated claim for completing a greenhouse gas (GHG) avoidant or reductive activity. Examples of these activities are carbon capture and destruction projects, tree planting, or installing EV chargers as liquid petroleum replacement.
How is a carbon credit created?
Carbon credits are managed through carbon credit programs. These programs are regulatory systems designed to encourage companies to reduce their GHG emissions. As entities complete verified GHG reduction projects or activities, they can register these activities with carbon credit programs in exchange for credits that they can sell.
To establish buyers, these programs set emission limits (caps) on GHG emissions. Entities that surpass the limits in their jurisdictions can purchase carbon credits to meet their obligations.
There are two types of credit markets: Compliance and Voluntary.
Compliance markets
Adopted in 2009, the California LCFS was the first program to encourage the use of low-carbon transportation fuels in California, with the goal of reducing the carbon intensity of the transportation pool fuel by at least 20% by 2030. The LCFS sets annual carbon intensity (CI) benchmarks for petroleum and diesel, and the replacement fuels. These benchmarks reduce over time.
After California implemented their program, other jurisdictions implemented programs with similar goals of reducing carbon intensity via benchmarking. There are currently five active programs in North America:
- California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
- Washington Clean Fuel Standard (CFS)
- Oregon Clean Fuels Program (CFP)
- Canada Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR)
- British Columbia Low Carbon Fuel Standard (BC-LCFS)
ChargeLab is currently registered in all Compliance programs except for the BC-LCFS.
Voluntary markets
In addition to compliance markets, there are also voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). Voluntary markets use independent carbon crediting programs that verify that the registered program achieves its carbon reduction objectives, and as a result, generates offset credits. Buyers in this program are typically looking to voluntarily offset their credit generation to meet internal objectives.
ChargeLab is working entering the voluntary carbon credit market in late 2025-early 2026.
I have an EV charger! How can I get carbon credits?
In order to incentivize the adoption of EVs across North America, a number of states/provinces have created a Carbon Credit Program. In order to take part in these programs, charging station providers need to generate credits by reporting transactions on a quarterly basis. Credits are calculated relative to the program’s carbon intensity (CI) benchmark. Carbon intensity is the measurement that accounts for the GHG emissions of a given fuel, and the benchmark is the maximum allowable GHG generation amount before a carbon deficit is accrued.
These credits can be sold on an open carbon credit market to entities that are running a CI benchmark deficit. Credit pricing is market-based and varies significantly from program to program. For example, credits in California may sell for a price of $50-$70 per credit; the Canadian CFR credits might sell for >$300 in the same time period.
In order to generate and sell these credits, you will need to have your charger on a network — like ChargeLab — that reports your charger’s kWh usage to a carbon credit program. On a regular basis, ChargeLab collates the kWh location, session, and usage data from all participating chargers connected to ChargeLab, and submits the data to a third-party enrollment and management platform, FuSE. FuSE registers, markets, and sells these credits, and then returns the revenue to ChargeLab for distribution to our site host partners (based on prior agreements).
Interested in earning your own Carbon Credits? If you have commercial chargers in Canada, California, Washington, or Oregon, talk to ChargeLab about how you can earn carbon credits. Each jurisdiction has different rules about how you can earn, market, and spend your credit money, and the team at ChargeLab will work with you to make sure that you can maximize your credit earnings.
