Carbon Project 4835 - Project Principles

Central and Eastern Europe, ID 4835

The following guideline outlines the main important operating conditions for the eAgronom Carbon Project, recognized under ID 4835 and are part of the Farmer Carbon Contract between the Farmer and eAgronom. These are requirements to obtain externally validated and globally recognised certification for our carbon credits - which is needed to access the global voluntary premium carbon market, and gain reliable, high carbon sales prices to pay the participating growers. eAgronom certifies its Carbon Project, and registers its credits with Verra, the most recognised and trusted carbon credit certifier in the world. This Carbon Project is submitted to Verra under the name of: eAgronom Sustainable Farming in Central and Eastern Europe, ID 4835. More than 60% of the global voluntary carbon credit transactions are made with Verra certified credits. The following principles are based on Verra VM0042 Methodology For Improved Agricultural Land Management, V2.0, for more detailed information please see: https://verra.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/VM0042-Improved-ALM-v2.0.pdf. 

Applicability

The Carbon Project is currently applicable only to land with non-perennial rotation. 

Additionality

Projects must prove so-called additionality. Projects may be considered additional if its activities:

• Are expected to generate additional benefits over the field that has been generating in the season prior to joining the Carbon Project.

• Are not required by law (e.g if cover cropping would be required by law).

• Incentivise on-farm change towards carbon sequestration or emission reductions.

• Would not be initiated, or continued, without the carbon income.

Constraints

The area used for the Carbon Project must have been cropland for at least 10 years before enrolling in the Carbon Project, i.e the project area shall not be cleared of native ecosystem within the 10-year period prior to the Carbon Project start date.

Crediting period

The Carbon Project will allow farmers to generate carbon revenue for 20 years since the project’s start (2021), so up to the year 2041 (included). The crediting period for sequestration activities will last until 2041 with a monitoring period of 40 years, meaning that the monitoring activities must continue up to 40 years from the project start to ensure the permanence of carbon removals (VCS Standard v4.6, Section 3.2.24), so until the year 2061 (included). In the event that the monitoring period length is updated by Verra, the new monitoring period will automatically be applied to the Fields enrolled in the Carbon Project. The execution of monitoring activities is entirely at eAgronom’s expenses.

Carbon pool

The reportable carbon pool, into which carbon sequestration is made, can include soil organic carbon and above ground woody biomass.

Applicable farming practices

The following farming practices are currently approved and awarded to the Carbon Project (if possible to apply):

• Transition from conventional practices into conservation agriculture practices in arable production:

  • Reduce soil disturbance while securing a good soil structure: 

    • no tillage;

    • strip tillage;

    • reduce the number of passes;

    • reduce the tillage depth; and/or

    • no ploughing (although occasional ploughing is accepted).
      
      

  •  Increase soil cover: 

    • Implement or intensify the frequency of cover crops (or catch crops) if the situation allows it:

      • When the weather and the rotation allows it, include a cover crop between the harvest and the following crop:

      • Improve cover crop quality and adaptability to local conditions and period of the year;

      • Undersow and mixed cropping (eg. companion cropping);

      • Consider winter crops as a way to cover the ground in absence of any cover; and/or

      • Green fallows (meaning yearly fallows that are sown) are considered as a full year cover crop. The same does not apply to black fallows (fallows that are subject to weed control and not sown) or to natural fallows (not tilled and not sown). The Carbon Project, therefore, encourages green fallows as compared to other forms of fallows.

• Crop residue management: leave as much crop residue as possible on the Field after harvests thus increasing the biomass left on the Field and protecting soil from erosion and moisture evaporation in stubbles.

• Nitrogen fertilizer reduction:

  • Nitrogen applied on the Fields may be reduced using one or more of the below listed strategies while maintaining productivity of the crop. We account for the total nitrogen units applied on the field independently from its source or form (synthetic or organic nitrogen). On a project level, everytime nitrogen application is decreased by 5% as compared to the baseline, the nitrogen emission reduction will be accounted for generating more Project Credits.

  • improve nitrogen inorganic inputs.

  • improve nitrogen organic inputs. The application of organic amendments constitutes an additional carbon input and will generate carbon credits only if they are produced on farm and not brought from external sources. The Project accounts for farm manure, slurry, digestate or waste water slurry use is encouraged while replacing synthetic sources of nitrogen fertilization.

  • adjust crop rotations to enable legumes (either as cash crop or cover crop) that would be a natural source of nitrogen.
    
    

• Crop rotations on fields involved in the Carbon Project may change or be optimized as an effect of the aforementioned applicable practices.

Eligibility

The below listed criteria are not negotiable and any field that is or will be subject to any of the items below will not be enrolled onto the Carbon Project or will be subject to its exclusion. 

• Agricultural Fields involved in the project cannot be classified as as permanent grassland, peatland or wetland or have been subject to a land use class change for the past 10 years (no fields which came from recent land conversion e.g. deforestation or permanent pastures to cropland);

• Fields are not subject to biomass burning;

• Fields are not subject to any grazing of livestock at any point;

• Not involved in any other carbon sequestration or GHG emission program without approval of eAgronom after an internal compatibility assessment; 

• Farmers need to implement new agricultural practices. If the Farmer has already been implementing those practices for more than 2 years or implemented before July 1st, 2021, the area and activities are not eligible.

Additional comments on practices: 

To this date, due to lack of clarity or simple MRV solutions for specific situations, we do not recognize the following practices in our Carbon Project despite their beneficial impact on soil health and potential carbon sequestration: 

• Reduced fuel consumption;

• Application of biochar; and

• Woody biomass.

When selecting your Fields, consider the following:

• Choose all fields where you intend to apply a practice change during the Project Crediting Period. The fields will start generating Project Credits when at least one practice change is implemented in the ongoing season. 

  • We strongly recommend applying either cover crops and/or reduced tillage/no tillage as your first practice change since these are the only practices generating a significant impact on carbon sequestration when implemented as a standalone practice change.

• Exclude fields that present a high risk of tenure changes within the Carbon Project term.

• If you have a Field with no crops for a given period, consider protecting your soil by keeping it covered with cover crops or spontaneous growth.

• If your selected Fields will be used as rotational grasslands while in the Project, be aware that those fields will generate Project Credits only when a cash crop or a green fallow appear on it as part of the rotation.

Water management and irrigation are not included as a practice change, nor do fuel reductions.

Organic farms are welcomed to join the Carbon Project as long as they present a practice change encouraged by the Carbon Project. 

What affects your sequestration levels negatively? 

The following crops can enter the rotation but will either not generate Project Credits or could even influence the sequestration levels negatively in a given year: 

• Root crops in certain seasons (e.g potatoes); 

• Vegetables; 

• Black fallow; and

• Ploughing or deep tillage passes.

As mentioned earlier, occasional ploughing (once every 6th year) is accepted by the Carbon Project although it will negatively impact the amount of Project Credits generated on your farm in the given year.

A similar approach applies to occasional sub-soiling; however bear in mind that the carbon sequestration levels are then lower in the year of sub-soiling. 

Baseline assessment

The Carbon Project requires farmers to provide historical farm management data for the  three years prior to the first practice change implemented in the Carbon Project, Collected data include:  crop rotations,  yields, field management practices, fertiliser and other inputs used. 

This data will only be used for certification requirements of the Carbon Project and, possibly, for other projects under the eAgronom Carbon Program. It will not be sold further, or used for any other purpose.

Adding land to the contract

The Carbon Project has some flexibility in adding farms and fields in time. 

• Additional land area can be added to the Carbon Project at any time after receiving eAgronom’s consent.

• Any new area added to the Carbon Project must comply with the requirements of the Carbon Project.

• The baseline for new areas added to the Carbon Project will be set based on the date of the first practice implementation of the given Field.

• New areas added to the Carbon Project will start generating Project Credits once the new areas have been validated and confirmed as being part of the Carbon Project.

Early project exit

The Carbon Project has some flexibility in removing farms and fields. 

• Fields can be removed from the Carbon Project at any time after receiving eAgronom’s consent.

• Once a field has been removed from the Carbon Project it can’t be added back. Additionality will most probably be lost for any other carbon project You might want to join in the future with someone else.

• The decision to remove fields / farms from the Carbon Project must be communicated to eAgronom at least 30 days before ceasing the agreed practices on the fields.

• You agree that we can remotely monitor the Fields for the whole Monitoring period to make sure that there is no leakage and loss of permanence. 

• If you have been part of the Carbon Project less than five years or We identify abnormal leakage and You have sold any Trade Credits, then unfortunately these Trade Credits will be deemed lost and You will have to pay back the proceeds received from the sold Trade Credits.

• We keep the amount of Trade Credits which will be issued or have been issued regarding the relevant field.

External verification

eAgronom will engage an external auditor to verify that the Carbon Project is generating carbon credits in accordance with the certifier’s requirements, and that the grower is following the implementation conditions of the Farmer Carbon Contract. The Farmer is expected to collaborate in such audits, which will take place as in person site visits of some enrolled fields and direct discussion between the auditor and the farmers (considering the whole project, not every farmer will be involved).

Leakage

Carbon leakage is the term for when the implementation of carbon projects causes an increase in GHG emissions outside the project boundary. This is not allowed. For example a massive increase in fertilizer application or a  significant decrease in farm productivity may result in carbon leakage.

Permanence

A high value carbon removal program must prove so called permanence, that is, make it highly probable that the carbon stored from the Carbon Project, will never be released into the atmosphere again. This means for example that fields under conservation practices cannot be returned to conventional farming again. To manage such risk, according to certification requirements, the Carbon Project only creates commercial credits, i.e Trade Credits for about 75-80% of the carbon sequestration generated. The rest goes into a so-called permanence buffer pool, i.e Permanence Buffer, to be used in the event when certain external reasons force a cancellation of practices. This Permanence Buffer protects growers under the Carbon Project keeping the credibility and the prices of the Trade Credits sold high. 

Reporting / documentation

The Carbon Project requires farmers to provide data via our Platform and documentation for each of the fields to be included under the Carbon Project, such as (but not limited to):

• Their location and reference details

• Three years historical agronomical and operational data

• The scope of planned practice changes 

• On an annual basis, agronomical and operational data for the previous year.