Senate’s Climate Act Passage Welcome

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The National Cotton Council (NCC) appreciates the Senate’s solid 92-8 passage today of the Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 (S. 1251) – legislation U.S. cotton’s central organization says can facilitate producers’ adoption of carbon sequestration practices and help lower greenhouse gas emissions.

NCC Chairman Kent Fountain, a Georgia cotton producer and ginner, said, “the U.S. cotton industry supports this legislation which will direct USDA to provide producers with reliable information and remove technical entry barriers for producers to participate in private carbon credit markets.”

After the Senate legislation was marked up earlier this year, Mark McKean, a  California cotton producer who chairs the NCC’s American Cotton Producers (ACP) and serves on the ACP’s Climate Policy Working Group, noted in a NCC release that the bill included a USDA certification component that lowers barriers to entry in the credit markets “by reducing confusion and improving information for farmers looking to implement practices that capture carbon, reduce emissions, improve soil health, and make operations more sustainable.”