Infrastructure provider Xpansiv and climate solutions firm Brightly have announced a new class of carbon credits derived from food rescue operations across the United States. This initiative marks the first large-scale issuance under Verra’s VM0046 methodology, focusing on avoided food loss and waste to mitigate methane emissions.
The project encompasses operations in approximately 97% of U.S. counties. By diverting surplus food from landfills to communities in need, the programme aims to reduce the significant climate impact of decomposing organic waste. An initial tranche of 250,000 A-rated, ex-ante credits—with the capacity to scale to 500,000—will be offered via a request-for-quote (RFQ) process on Xpansiv’s CBL spot exchange from 23 April 2026 to 1 June 2026.
Revenue from the credit sales is designated to support food rescue organisations, with up to 80% of proceeds directed back to these partners to bolster recovery efforts amidst rising food costs. The credits have received an Ae pre-issuance rating from BeZero Carbon, indicating high expected integrity.
“This offering represents a new model for climate finance, one that directly links emissions reduction with meaningful social impact. By supporting food rescue organisations, these credits help address two urgent challenges at once: reducing methane emissions and strengthening food access across communities,” said Andy Levitt, Founder and CEO of Brightly.
“Initiatives like this can help expand that work, increasing access to food while also reducing waste across the system,” said Paul Henrys, Chief Financial Officer, Feeding America.
Russell Karas, Senior Vice President, Xpansiv said, “We are pleased for our centralised CBL spot exchange to support the sale of these novel credits, which deliver both verified environmental benefits and meaningful social co-benefits. RFQ mechanisms enable transparent price discovery, which is particularly important for new methodologies entering the market.”
The RFQ is open to all market participants and supports spot purchases, forward offtake agreements, and buy-to-retire transactions without requiring a CBL or Verra registry account for initial participation.
