Can soil carbon credits benefit farmers and help the climate?

A man stands in a deep hole in the dirt, with folks standing around looking in as he talks, moving soil with his hands

photo by Andrew Mullen.

Can soil carbon credits benefit farmers and help the climate?

Generating soil carbon credits depends on digitalising agriculture and harvesting data from farmers. As Earthshot winner Boomitra prepares to sell its first credits, Energy Monitor investigates who stands to reap the benefits.

A man stands in a deep hole in the dirt, with folks standing around looking in as he talks, moving soil with his hands

Dalip Ram, a rice farmer in the north Indian state of Haryana, inspects an app on his smart phone showing a satellite map of his farm. This app is the product of a San Francisco-based tech company called Boomitra that uses data about the farmer’s land to calculate how much carbon he is managing to lock into the soil of his small plot in order to generate carbon credits. Boomitra just won the Earthshot Prize – which seeks out “the most innovative solutions to the world’s top environmental challenges” – in the ‘Fix Our Climate’ category.

Read more on Energy Monitor.

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