A coalition of climate organizations, headed by the American Forest Foundation (AFF), has unveiled a new framework intended to resolve one of the carbon removal market’s most persistent challenges: ensuring that stored carbon stays out of the atmosphere for as long as policy requires.
AFF, in collaboration with the Beyond Alliance and RMI, has released research introducing “contracted durability,” a legal and financial structure designed to manage the so-called reversal risk, or the danger that carbon captured and stored through removal projects is later released back into the atmosphere.
The researchers argue that while carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is essential to meeting global climate targets, the market currently lacks a consistent framework for managing long-horizon durability across different removal methods and policy contexts.
The paper identifies a structural mismatch: permanence requirements written into climate policy often exceed what carbon crediting programs actually guarantee, leaving a gap in who bears responsibility for ensuring carbon remains stored.
Contracted durability addresses that gap by combining two functions—assigning ongoing liability and providing financial tools to compensate for any reversals that occur.
Two mechanisms are highlighted as capable of fulfilling both functions: horizontal stacking, which replaces a reversed credit with a new one, and a permanence trust, which assumes ongoing liability and is funded through a per-credit fee.
Existing tools such as buffer pools and insurance can support contracted durability, the researchers say, but neither alone satisfies both requirements.
Relevant: U.S. Forest Carbon Buffer Pools Far Too Small For Climate Risks, Nature Study Warns
AFF has already released preliminary findings from a feasibility study on permanence trusts and is now developing a pilot program. The full report is available upon request from the foundation.
“Contracted durability is the framework the market has been waiting for,” AFF lead scientist Lynn Riley said, adding that it “unlocks billions of dollars to scale carbon dioxide removal solutions.”
Luke Pritchard, director of the Beyond Alliance, noted the approach gives corporate buyers “something concrete to demand,” while RMI’s Kyle Clark-Sutton explained it shifts market focus from project type toward whether climate outcomes are reliably sustained over time.
Read more: TransZero And Kita Partner To Advance Climate Risk Modelling In Carbon Insurance
