Soil carbon sequestration generated in the use of soil improvement fibres from the circular economy company Soilfood Oy is now certified and verified by the Puro.earth carbon removal marketplace. Nordic Offset was involved in Soilfood’s project in a consulting role.
Nordic Offset’s expert services include consulting on potential climate projects and developing calculation methods that allow the emissions reductions achieved in the projects to be certified and traded in the market. This allows the projects to garner funding through emissions trading, and leads to scalable climate benefits.
Nordic Offset and Soilfood Oy launched their collaborative climate project in 2019. The goal was to certify soil carbon sequestration based on Soilfood’s innovation for the voluntary emissions trading market. The methodology implemented in the project enabled an external party to quantify and verify the carbon sink created, and to certify it in terms of carbon sink units. Nordic Offset advised Soilfood particularly in the operation of the voluntary offset market and its best practices.
Recycled carbon from industrial side streams
The innovation behind Soilfood’s refined fibres is to recycle industrial side streams into soil improvers for agricultural use. The soil improvement fibres allow the carbon contained in the recycled material to be returned to soil for long-term storage, instead of becoming incinerated in energy production and ending up in the atmosphere.
The amount of carbon sequestered during the use of soil improvement fibres in farming exceeds the amount emitted during their production, and therefore Soilfood decided to seek certification for the net carbon sequestration. The Puro.earth marketplace was selected to implement the certification and verification of the carbon sink units. An open and transparent funding model was developed for the fibres, and farmers are the primary beneficiaries of the increased carbon sequestration and the sales on the emissions market.
“It’s very important that the private sector in Finland introduces innovations to fight climate change based on circular economy models, carbon sequestration, or emissions reductions. Once the climate impact has been verified and found to comply with the best practices, the benefits achieved can be used in areas where emissions reductions are not yet possible with today’s technology,” says Maija Saijonmaa, Lead Specialist at Nordic Offset.
Growing potential for carbon offset projects in Finland
Although offsetting emissions via carbon sequestration projects in Finland currently carries the risk of so-called double counting, the market is already anticipating the potential separation of private sector offsetting from the national carbon balance in the future.
“At present, voluntary emissions trading continues to focus on developing countries with no climate legislation in place yet, and the market-leading projects are certified by Gold Standard and Verra. Despite this, Finnish companies should consider the possibility of registering their innovation to produce certified emissions reductions that could be sold in the market. This can already be done under certain conditions, and the rules will be clarified further if an official register for Finnish climate projects which is likely to be implemented in the near future. It is therefore a good idea to launch development initiatives as soon as possible, as it ensures that the calculation methods are already in place when Finnish certification becomes more widespread,” Saijonmaa says.
If you are interested in commercialising the potential that your business or innovation has for reducing emissions, please contact our experts. Nordic Offset is actively seeking certifiable Finnish innovations to enable net carbon sequestration or emissions reductions. If you wish to learn more about Soilfood or offset your company’s carbon footprint with Finnish Puro.earth-certified projects, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Picture source: Soilfood Oy