Credit Class Overview

While a subset of credit classes may initially be developed by Regen Registry, the intention is to build a vibrant community of credit designers that will take the lead going forward.

Credit classes are programs/protocols/standards which outline the rules and requirements for projects seeking to certify credits which can be sold on the voluntary market.

The credit class outlines the rules and requirements needed for an ecosystem service credit in a way which allows multiple methodologies to fold into the same credit class. Credit classes acknowledge commonalities, while simultaneously allowing for flexibility in design to address variation in ecological regeneration practices depending on size, location, access to tools, financing, etc.

Traditional approaches often rely on a single methodology to define everything from the measurement approach to the project verification and credit issuance requirements. The credit class is a more general list of requirements of a project, the methodology is the detailed account of how to measure a project within those requirements.

Note: Credit classes (right now) only work for crediting programs and can’t be used for certification programs, such as the Regenerative Organic Certification, or voucher based programs (ie local currencies or food trading programs).

Some advantages of this credit class structure are:

(1) The ability to group methods under an umbrella credit class to help with curation

(2) Ability for credit designers to upgrade the credit class as needed without updating the entire methodology

(3) Ability to design regional or practice specific crediting programs which accommodate to the needs of a specific set of stakeholders

Visit Regen Registry Credit Classes for a list of current credit classes.