August 4, 2022
CIBO recently announced the acceptance of “The CIBO Initiative for Scaling Regenerative Agriculture,” a Project Description Document (PDD) submitted by the company to Verra. The PDD was presented under Verra Carbon Standard VM0042 (Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management, v1.0), according to a release.
Verra is a forerunner in carbon market quality assurance and has developed more than 200 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and sequestration standards. These standards are used to create programs that offer environmental and social value.
“For the first time, a company looking to bring a registered carbon program to their growers or stakeholder groups in the U.S. now has a project infrastructure that they can leverage through credit registration or as a reference design for their own project,” shared the release.
CIBO’s initiative is VM0042’s first project to also be listed under the pipeline in the United States. It is also the first project under VM0042 to be listed as “Under Validation” across the world.
The CIBO Initiative for Scaling Regenerative Agriculture works to offer financial and technical support for U.S. commodity crop growers in hopes that they will adopt enhanced agricultural land management practices. The goal is to reduce and remove GHG and improve land resiliency. Practices such as cover crop adoption, lessened tillage and reduced nitrogen are included.
“We are excited to have achieved this milestone which will further accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture,” said Daniel Ryan, CEO of CIBO Technologies. “Once the project is reviewed and accepted by the team at Verra and an independent verification body, it will be made available to support our partners with development of their own carbon programs and climate commitments.”
The new Verra program combines CIBO’s proprietary software platform with the technical and financial support of CIBO and enterprise partners. The programs will offer “incentives, a financial safety net and expert guidance that farmers across the Corn Belt region of the United States need to overcome barriers to widespread adoption of regenerative agriculture,” explained the release.
The project was developed to assist enterprises within the food and agriculture value chain such as input companies, ethanol producers, grain and commodities companies and more.
“It’s encouraging to see the CIBO Initiative for Scaling Regenerative Agriculture project enter the validation phase under VM0042 Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management,” said Toby Janson-Smith, chief Program Development and Innovation officer at Verra. “Once validated, the project will create a pathway for growers in the United States to generate verifiable, transparent and robust carbon reduction and sequestration credits, and demonstrate the key role the U.S. agricultural sector can play in tackling climate change.”
