Carboneers

Carboneers has trained farmers on how to store biomass, make biochar and apply biochar to their agricultural soils in decentralized farming communities in India. All actions, from biomass storage, to pyrolysis and biochar application is tracked with photographs, timestamps and GPS locations through the mobile application that has been installed on the phones of the farm supervisors in the project regions. This data is checked by Carboneers and Carbon Standards International, after which C-sinks are registered and issued in the C-Sink Registry. Farmers and supervisors are paid with the revenue created from carbon credit sales and the improvement of the agricultural soils due to biochar is a bonus.

Artisanal biochar projects, such as smallholder rice farmer biochar project operated by Carboneers, are highly effective because of the direct and decentralized approach. Tonnes of biomass, which would have otherwise gone to waste, is utilized this way. As Carboneers is an impact-focused startup, the socio-economic value is as important as the permanent storage of carbon. For example, the project places a big focus on the empowerment of women within the projects. Over 60% of the managing positions are fulfilled by local women. Besides working towards gender equality, the smallholder-driven biochar project helps meet 9 other SDGs.

Carboneers was created by Berend de Haas, a biologist and Mart de Bruijn, an environmental economist. With combined knowledge on biochar application and the carbon credit market, after a period of consultancy for European companies, Berend and Mart decided to develop their own biochar projects in the Global South. In search of a local partner, responses from over 12 countries came in within months. After a period of careful selection and due diligence, Carboneers started their first project in India, together with its local partner SRC Natura Products Ltd.

Certifications:

• Carbon Standards International - an organization that develops and manages carbon offset standards, ensuring credibility and transparency in the market, supporting climate change mitigation through credible carbon offset projects.

Carboneers develops smallholder farmer biochar projects in the Global South, where biomass is more abundantly available and often goes to waste. By training rural farmer communities to convert their own agricultural waste biomass to biochar, socio-economic value can be created in these communities. Biochar is a stable form of carbon for over a thousand years and thus a solid carbon sink with which carbon credits can be created. The vision of Carboneers is to provide farmers with more economic stability, while enhancing soil fertility and contributing to several of the Sustainable Development Goals, such as gender equality and food security.

"Biochar projects in the Global South are a gateway for a lot of socio-economic benefits for smallholder communities."

Berend de Haas, Co-founder and Director