The City of Atlanta is preserving 196 acres of the 216-acre Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve, one of the largest remaining high-quality forests left inside the City of Atlanta, as part of a carbon project. Consisting of a mix of mature hardwood and evergreens, Lake Charlotte is a unique resource for Atlanta, allowing nature-based recreation and environmental education opportunities. Preserving the forest also provides public health benefits such as air quality improvements and urban heat mitigation, along with expanded greenspace access and wildlife habitat.

The Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve Project is an important opportunity to utilize a revenue-generating model to help fund the preservation and stewardship of urban forested properties. Carbon credit revenue will help fund maintenance and stewardship of the property and promote forest health. Not only will preservation of the forest avoid the emissions that would come with development, the forest and carbon stock will grow over time.

Total Credits Issued: 18,478

• 2023: 9,239 credits issued
• 2024: 9,239 credits issued

Total Credits Sold: 0

Total Credits Retired: 0

Total Credits Cancelled: 0

Total Credits Available for Purchase: 18,478

Co-Benefits

Forest preservation projects not only reduce carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but provide ecosystem services or co-benefits that can be quantified. The co-benefits from this project represent a savings (avoided costs) of $100,560 per year, and $4,022,400 over 40 years.

• Rain interception (stormwater management) – 26,189 m3/year, $68,500 per year
• Air quality – 5.1 tons/year, $12,210 per year
• Energy – cooling (electricity) – 244,550 kWh/year, $18,561 per year
• Energy – heating (natural gas) – 124,058 kBtu/year, $1,289 per year

Social Impacts

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call for action and global partnership among all countries, representing key benchmarks for creating a better world and environment for everyone. Well-designed and managed urban forests make significant contributions to the environmental sustainability, economic viability and livability of cities.

The main SDGs for this project are described below, with more detailed information in the Project Design Document.

The Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve will open up greater opportunities for outdoor recreation for Atlanta residents, with walking, hiking, and mountain biking trails throughout the Preserve, as well as connections to the Southside Park complex and trail system. As a healthy, biodiverse forest, it will also improve air quality and mitigate urban heat for surrounding areas.

This project protects a mature forest that will improve stormwater management for the City and provide energy savings benefits by reducing heating and cooling needs of nearby communities.

The Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve is surrounded by developed uses, including roads, residences, and a capped landfill. Protecting the forest preserves a precious biodiversity hotspot within the City, that because of the nature of its rare soil type, hosts a botanical community that covers less than 1% of land mass in the US.