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Onsite Carbon Sequestration Through Plantings - Pilot credits - SSpc158

Option 1 for the Onsite Carbon Sequestration Through Plantings pilot credit requires showing the amount of CO2 sequestered by all trees and shrubs on the proposed site is at a minimum a 10% increase from the baseline site. 

If the baseline site does not have any trees or shrubs, is there a minimum of CO2 sequestered (lbs/sq ft. or kg/sq. m) that needs to be met? Or is any increase over the zero CO2 sequestered on the baseline site acceptable?

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Fri, 09/20/2024 - 14:03

That's a good question. My guess is that if nothing was there before, you get the credit by default as soon as you introduce greenery. Any other takes ?
 

Tue, 06/16/2026 - 20:47

@EvanConstant did you ever get feedback on this from USGBC and/or project review? 

Tue, 06/16/2026 - 21:34

We reached out to GBCI and received the following response: "If the calculation of a 10% improvement is not possible because your existing site condition has a baseline of zero, the project team credit can propose an alternative compliance approach or consider Option 2 which states "USGBC  welcomes the idea of alternative strategies to those discussed under Option 1." For example, the team might start with a baseline condition that provides the minimum amount of landscaping required to meet local codes, and the proposed design would show a 10% improvement beyond that baseline. If there are no code requirements for landscaping, the team might consider proposing a baseline that resembles similar local projects that would be 
considered a minimum standard practice. Also note that the Pathfinder tool referenced in Option 2 may be a suitable tool if the i-Tree Planting Calculator does not work for the project.  Any variances from the credit requirements or alternative compliance pathways will be evaluated through the formal review process. That can be done through a special circumstances narrative in the credit form or, if approval of a strategy is required ahead of review, the project team can submit a Credit Interpretation Request. Within either of these, the project team would need to detail why the credit requirements as they are written cannot reasonably be met for the project, and the reasons the proposed  
alternative would better meet the intent of the credit for this particular project. Special circumstances are then reviewed based on merit and project-specific circumstances.  That said, given that the goal of a pilot credit is to test and evaluate new approaches and strategies to be considered in LEED, and given the invitation for alternative approaches as stated in Option 2, it seems reasonable for the team to propose a strategy that could be accepted."For our project, we were able to receive the credit using Option 2 and present an alternative strategy. The alternative strategy proposed was to use the Pathfinder tool to determine the baseline carbon emitted from existing grass lawn using "Moderate Management Lawn" of the project site and demonstrate a minimum 10% improvement in carbon sequestered and/or emitted. We believed that this aligned with the credit intent to provide a 10% improvement in carbon sequestered. Our project used two approaches; we reduced the total area of "Moderate Management Lawn" to reduce emitted carbon from the baseline existing site condition and we planted perennial grasses to increase carbon sequestered. The reduction in "Moderate Management Lawn" total area had an impact of 60% reduction of carbon emitted over 50 years. Alternatively, we considered that if the reduction in "Moderate Management Lawn" were ignored, we planted enough perennial grasses to have a 15% improvement of carbon sequestered over the baseline impact of carbon emitted by the "Moderate Management Lawn".   

Thu, 06/18/2026 - 19:48

Very informative, thanks, it makes sense

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