Web seminar
Enhancing investment in soil health and carbon storage:
Frontiers for linking finance and carbon accounting
10th September 2020
10:00 AM - 1:15 PM EDT
(4 PM - 7:15 PM CEST)
Background
Enhancing soil health can contribute to improving agricultural productivity as well as soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. UNFCCC’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, Sustainable Development Goal 15 and the Land Degradation Neutrality framework demonstrate the increasing attention of policy makers to the importance of SOC for land productivity and food security. In addition to that, the 4 per 1000 Initiative has been promoting a global partnership intending to facilitate efforts across multiple stakeholders to promote action at all levels to increase SOC stocks globally.
Despite the broad international attention, a large gap remains between the potential of SOC sequestration and implementation of practices on the ground as well as trade-offs with the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). As the investment community seeks to improve its climate impacts, many organizations are now asking how to best support implementation of those practices. Diverse opportunities for public and private finance exist and are emerging. For example, the UNCCD set up the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund as an “impact investment fund blending resources from the public, private and philanthropic sectors in support of achieving LDN through sustainable land management and land restoration projects undertaken by the private sector worldwide.”
Major constraints are the need of transparent, accurate, consistent and comparable methods for accounting changes in SOC stocks and net GHG emissions, notably through the use of new technologies, as well as the need to enable standardized protocols at low transaction costs. Promising approaches combine pragmatic and user-friendly tools with site-specific modelling, and make use of geospatial data sources and blockchain technology.
Purpose of the web seminar
The purpose of this web seminar is to support investment-oriented actions promoting soil health and carbon storage by improving the accounting of soil carbon sequestration. We seek to answer the question: How can soil carbon accounting improve to support investment-oriented actions promoting soil health and carbon storage?
To this end, participants will examine opportunities for action using novel methods and frontier technologies that enable linking technical practices with finance and policy for accurate and cost-efficient SOC accounting. The workshop will also examine how improved SOC accounting can support three priority lines for action (Vermeulen, et al. 2019): policy, business development and value for farmers to promote scaling up of investment in soil health and carbon storage.
The key output of the meeting will be a summary of the state of the art of the component methodologies or a combination thereof, and what is needed next to make these most useable for investors to account for SOC sequestration.
The event will bring together multilateral development banks, private banks, and other investors, donors, and implementing organizations with developers/providers of tools and project standards, to share experiences and develop solution pathways for enhanced investment and SOC accounting. The web seminar is open to the public.
Sponsoring organizations
This event is co-organized by CCAFS-CGIAR, The Nature Conservancy, 4 per 1000 Executive Secretariat, World Bank and the Meridian Institute.
Draft Agenda (Subject to change)
10th September 2020
Session 1 - The need for soil carbon accountingObjective: Identify needs of finance community and issues in linking finance and soil carbon accounting | ||
10:00 - 10:10 | Welcome and introduction – Ciniro Costa Jr., CCAFS Overview of agenda – Tim Mealey, Meridian Institute | |
10:10 - 10:20 | Keynote presentation Investing in soil carbon sequestration: Overview of opportunities and challenges – Deborah Bossio, The Nature Conservancy | |
10:20 - 10:40 | Setting the scene o Linking public support to agricultural producers to soil health – Martien van Nieuwkoop, World Bank o Technical accounting: Essential aspects of carbon accounting systems and challenges – Keith Paustian, Colorado State University | |
10:40 - 10:55 | Q&A | |
10:55 - 11:05 | Break | |
Session 2 - Soil carbon accounting frontiersObjective: Learn from emerging experiences linking investment and soil carbon accounting | ||
11:05 - 11:15 | Verra – development and management of standards for sustainable development and climate action goals. Stefan Jirka, Manager LandScale. | |
11:15 - 11:25 | Indigo – unlocking carbon markets through research and entrepreneurial community efforts. Dan Harburg, Director | |
11:25 - 11:35 | Dagan, Inc – estimating soil carbon sequestration using remote sensing. William Salas, President of Dagan, Inc | |
11:35 - 11:45 | Nori – blockchain-based two-sided marketplace to measure, verify and trade soil carbon sequestration. Aldyen Donnelly, Director of Carbon Economics | |
11:45 - 12:00 | Q&A | |
12:00 - 12:10 | Break | |
12:10 - 12:20 | Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) - leading US and international NGO's, companies, and experts. ESMC quantifies and generates assets and credits for improved soil carbon, net GHG emissions and water quantity. Debbie Reed, Executive Director | |
12:20 - 12:30 | Carbon Farming Initiative - Emissions Reduction Fund – the Australian government scheme, including methods for crediting soil carbon eligible under a national target in line with the Paris Agreement, Beverley Henry, Institute for Future Environments-QUT | |
12:30 - 12:40 | Bayer: Climate Field View - Precision farming tool combined with remote sensing and sensors, Liam Condon, President Bayer Crop Science | |
12:40 - 12:50 | RECSOIL: Recarbonization of global soils, Ronald Vargas, Global Soil Carbon Partnership - FAO | |
12:50 - 13:10 | Q&A | |
13:10 – 13:15 | Closing remarks – Paul Luu, 4per1000 | |
Presentations will be available in a web repository
