New York: An international soil carbon marketplace, founded by a Karnataka-born entrepreneur, will deliver USD 200 million in carbon finance to farmers and ranchers in the developing world by 2025 to scale the deployment of climate-smart agriculture.
Boomitra founder Aadith Moorthy spoke at the recently concluded Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) Summit in Washington hosted by the United States.
The Summit, supported by Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), aims to bring together partners to increase and accelerate investment in and support for agriculture and food systems innovation for climate action.
Moorthy highlighted how soil’s potential can be unlocked as a “powerful carbon sink through the action of farmers – enabling them to participate in carbon markets and build resilience to rising temperatures.” With a view to scaling the deployment of climate-smart agriculture, Boomitra will deliver USD 200 million in carbon finance to farmers and ranchers in the developing world by 2025, a press release by Aim For Climate said.
The initiative will leverage Boomitra’s proprietary AI and remote sensing technology, as well as the support of global partners, to implement projects that increase soil carbon, thereby unlocking gigaton-scale carbon removal.
The USD 200 million pledged represents an increased investment and is expected to remove 13M tonnes of carbon across 5 million acres.
According to Boomitra’s website, it sells carbon credits to corporations and governments worldwide, enabling them to meet their sustainability goals.
The majority of the proceeds from each carbon credit sold is given directly to the farmers, allowing them to re-invest in themselves and their communities. With over 5M+ acres currently under management, Boomitra is working with farmers to accelerate carbon removal on a gigaton-scale, while helping them grow more with less.
“For us at Boomitra, our goal is that by 2030, we should be on a gigaton scale, work with hundreds and millions of acres then. We have the trajectory to get there. We invite everyone to work with us, join us and partner with us so that we can together reach that gigaton scale,” Moorthy said.
He added it is a global issue for governments to create policies around agriculture and specifically carbon in agriculture. “Basically governments have to enable and not restrict and they should put in some guardrails in place to enable benefits to actually reach farmers and ranchers.” Moorthy said Boomitra works with farmers and ranchers around the world and helps them adopt improved agricultural practices that increase soil carbon levels. Those increases in soil carbon are then measured using satellites and AI and they are then turned into internationally recognised third-party certified carbon removal credits.
“We then sell these to corporations and governments who buy them to meet their sustainability needs,” he said adding that the majority of the carbon value is returned to the farmers.
Globally, Boomitra works with five million acres, 150,000 plus farmers out of which 100,000 farmers are in India across 15 states and this number will be expanded over the next year.
US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that AIM for Climate partners from around the globe are increasing investment in, and support for, climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation.
“Climate change continues to impact longstanding agricultural practices in every country and a strong global commitment is necessary to face the challenges of climate change head-on and build more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems,” Vilsack said.
“We need all of us working together to address the challenges of climate change and food security through innovative technology and approaches, and the AIM for Climate Summit gives me hope that we will rise to the occasion, as future generations depend on us to do.” In February this year, India joined the global platform launched by the US and the UAE with an aim to accelerate investment and support for climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation. The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) was launched by the two nations in November 2021.
AIM for Climate announced the three new Government Partners – India, Panama, and Paraguay – to support its mission to significantly increase investment in and support for climate-smart-agriculture and food systems innovation over the period of 2021 to 2025, and to address crises such as global hunger, food insecurity, and climate change.
New partners including the governments of Argentina, Fiji, Guatemala, India, Panama, Paraguay and Sri Lanka, bring the total number of government, innovation sprints, and knowledge partners to more than 500.
At the summit, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri reiterated that strengthening national and global food security through sustainable technology and innovation is one of the key strategic pillars of the UAE’s National Food Security Strategy 2051. PTI YAS NSA .
