Our Work
The objective of our work is to bring clarity, consistency and integrity to the UK farm soil carbon marketplace through research, stakeholder engagement and the development of critical pieces of market infrastructure, including the following:
Our work will address all the ‘principles’ needed to ensure that the soil carbon market-place delivers for farmers, investors and the environment. This will reflect obligations for both the sequestered carbon, and the marketplace in general.
Credible
Sequestered carbon must be scientifically measurable according to robust, high-integrity methodologies
Additional
Paid for activities must be over and above what would have occurred under business-as-usual conditions
Permanent
Regenerative practices must be maintained to ensure that any sequestered carbon is retained in the soil over an agreed period of time
Verifiable
The approach used, and the changes in carbon stocks claimed must be verified by a trusted, third party organization
Transparent
Rules need to be established to avoid double-counting - separate market players claiming the same carbon increase
Holistic
A UK Soil Carbon market-place must not lead to CO2 or GHG increases elsewhere or have a negative impact upon food production
Scalable
The market-place must be deliver carbon sequestration at sufficient scale to generate value for money and low overheads for farmers and investors
Fair
Projects should not reward historic or deliberate soil carbon loss or land managers who are not making adequate carbon reductions efforts elsewhere