Germany Regenerative Agriculture - Avoidance

Story

Agricultural activities such as livestock and food production—as well as land-use change, water use, and deforestation—release significant amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide, contributing to global warming and destroying natural ecosystems. The consequences of these activities are noticeable in our immediate areas.

Furthermore, unsustainable agricultural practices such as overuse of fertilizers and intensive tillage can lead to soil degradation, which reduces the soil's ability to store carbon and releases stored carbon into the atmosphere.

In fact, the agricultural sector is responsible for a quarter of global emissions each year, while offering vast potential for improvement. By transitioning to regenerative agriculture with Klim’s support, farmers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are reducing their emissions at farm level.

These Klim credits are reduction credits. Reductions refer to the reduction of GHG emissions in the management of fields through more efficient methods such as the reduction of nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides, and tillage, as well as the reduction of humus depletion through improved crop rotation.

The Klim platform is used to document CO₂-reduction measures through crop rotation, which is associated with a buildup of soil carbon. To determine the reduction capacity, the amount of fertilizer and pesticide used—as well as the tillage operations and sowing method applied per area—are specified. The differences between the comparison period (baseline scenario) and the inputs used / tillage applied in the reporting year are credited as emissions reductions and remunerated accordingly. Those are decisive for climate protection performance and thus compensation.

Over the next years, Klim will implement regenerative agriculture projects across Europe and incentivize farmers to scale up existing initiatives. Its modular and flexible approach allows for scaling up regenerative agriculture worldwide.

The Klim methodology is in validation by TÜV Rheinland according to DIN-ISO 14064.2. Based on data documented by farmers on the platform and validated by Klim, the amount of emissions reduced is quantified, and carbon reductions are generated accordingly.

Klim continuously increases the portfolio of participating farmers, which is why the annual emission reductions on the farms will continuously increase yearly from 500,000 up to more than 200 million tonnes of CO2e within this decade.

An in-depth monitoring and verification scheme is crucial to ensure the climate change mitigation impact of the project. The implemented farm management changes must be verified and the success of GHG reduction and carbon sequestration must be monitored. Therefore, internal quality control procedures were developed to verify the data entry of the farmers for the project. For this purpose, several steps are undertaken on Klim’s digital platform.

In brief:

1. Farmers create a digital version of their farm on the Klim platform following registration. The validity of the farm data is verified by Klim via publicly available data.
2. Farmers subsequently create individual digital fields for implementation of project scenarios. The size of those fields is verified by Klim using remote sensing data.
3. Farmers can participate in various management modules to generate GHG-ERR. Therefore, farmers create annual management scenarios that are verified yearly and used to calculate climate change mitigation performance and payouts, compared to a 3-year baseline.
4. The process is repeated each year throughout the duration of the project.

The MRV that underlies the methodologies that Klim develops and revises constantly is enriched with the latest technologies and market requirements. In order to ensure scalability and thus enable a sustainable food system shift, a purely outcome-based MRV system would not be feasible. Therefore, Klim follows a conservative method/activity-based MRV system that inherits several risk-mitigation mechanisms to ensure integrity while enabling the quick adoption of regenerative practices.

In our projects, we ensure that all measures meet the criteria of additionality. Specifically, this means that we only promote methods for which there is no legal obligation to implement, which are not already being used, and which would not be implemented without Klim.

In addition to reducing climate-damaging emissions, regenerative methods have numerous additional benefits. They improve biodiversity and support the rebuilding of soil organic matter, improving its fertility and water-storage capacity. This results in more resilient and nutrient-rich yields, in turn making farms more profitable and climate resilient in the long run—and our food healthier. Furthermore, the farmers' activities ensure that the farms save operating resources and, thus, costs. In total, Klim credits contribute to seven Sustainable Development Goals.

Klim and regenerative agriculture focus on improving agricultural soils and, thus, food production on our doorstep. By purchasing Klim credits, companies can support farmers within the region in which they operate.

Together with K+S AG, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, and other scientific institutions, commercial enterprises, and agricultural stakeholders, Klim has launched a so-called DIN specification initiative. Jointly, they are working on a certification standard specifically for regenerative agriculture in order to show how carbon farming in Germany can be scaled in a practical, resilient, and scientifically sound manner.

TECHNOLOGY

Regenerative Agriculture

MECHANISM

Avoidance

STANDARD


DEVELOPER

Klim

Highlights

Improves community environmental literacy
Conserves local biodiversity and habitats
Avoids non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions
Supplier has raised $5M-$20M
Uses satellite monitoring
50-100 employees

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Zero Hunger

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Good Health and Well-Being

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Responsible Consumption and Production

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Climate Action

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Life Below Water
 
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

Life on Land

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
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