A US project developer has brought the first carbon credits from food rescue to market. On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Boston-based Brightly announced that its food rescue project had generated over 720,000 carbon credits, the first issuance under a methodology for reducing food loss and waste, Carbon Pulse reported. For buyers, the event opens a new credit category built on avoided methane emissions; for developers, it proves that a distributed, nonprofit-run activity can be aggregated, verified and issued at scale.
What Was Issued and Under Which Rules
The issuance of 721,649 Verified Carbon Units was made under Verra’s VM0046 Methodology for Reducing Food Loss and Waste, according to the company’s announcement. The credits recognise avoided methane emissions achieved when nonprofit food rescue organizations redirect edible food from waste streams back into the human food supply.
The project was developed over more than three years in collaboration with the Feeding America network and independent food rescue organizations across the United States. Brightly, a food waste and climate solutions company, built the project-specific data and measurement infrastructure needed to quantify the climate impact of qualifying food rescue at scale, while the food banks and rescue organizations generated the underlying environmental benefits through their recovery work.
The project underwent independent validation and verification by SCS Global Services, an approved validation and verification body in Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard Program, followed by Verra’s review and approval before the units were issued.
The Numbers Behind the Credits
The issuance covers qualifying food rescue activity between March 2020 and December 2023. During that period, participating organizations rescued 15.3 billion pounds of food. After accounting for historical baselines and project-related emissions, 3.1 billion pounds of qualifying food rescue generated the 721,649 Verified Carbon Units.
That conversion ratio, roughly one credit per 4,300 pounds of qualifying rescued food, is the first market reference point for this activity type. It will matter for every developer now modelling similar projects, because it shows how much qualifying volume a large, multi-year, multi-organization pipeline actually yields after baseline deductions.
The credits have received an A ex ante rating from BeZero Carbon, an independent carbon ratings agency, indicating a high likelihood that each credit represents one metric ton of avoided greenhouse gas emissions. A third-party rating at issuance is notable for a first-of-kind methodology, where buyers typically face the highest uncertainty about quantification risk.
A Revenue Channel, Not Just a Credit
The structural innovation is the flow of money. The majority of net proceeds from credit sales will be returned to participating food rescue organizations, funding the trucks, drivers, refrigeration, staff and other resources needed to recover and distribute more food. Carbon finance is being used here as earned revenue for nonprofits rather than as a project developer margin.
“Brightly was founded on the belief that addressing climate change and hunger go hand in hand. This issuance transforms the extraordinary work of our food rescue partners into verified climate impact and a new source of funding to help them do even more,” said Andy Levitt, Brightly founder and CEO.
Eric S. Cooper, president and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank and a member of the Feeding America Board of Directors, framed it as a measurement milestone: “Food rescue organizations have long understood that rescuing good food creates benefits beyond hunger relief.”
Why Food Waste Is a Climate Asset Class
The climate case behind the methodology is well established. Food loss and waste is responsible for an estimated 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the company noted. Globally, more than a billion tonnes of food is wasted each year, according to the BBC.
The mechanism is methane. When organic waste is buried in landfill, it breaks down without oxygen and releases methane, a greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, the BBC reported. Diverting edible food before it reaches landfill avoids that methane at source, which is the reduction VM0046 credits.
What Buyers and Developers Should Watch
For buyers, three due diligence points stand out. First, vintage: the credits cover activity from 2020 to 2023, so they are retrospective and will suit inventory-based claims rather than forward procurement. Second, the BeZero A rating provides an independent quality signal, but buyers should still examine how baselines for “would have been wasted” food were set. Third, co-benefits: the hunger relief dimension and the proceeds-sharing structure give these credits a social impact narrative that few supply categories can match.
For developers, the marker is replication. VM0046 now has a working reference implementation, including the data infrastructure requirements for aggregating many small nonprofit operators into one verifiable project. Whether other developers follow, and at what price the Brightly units trade, will determine if food rescue credits become a real supply segment or remain a single-project milestone.
