The Australian Government has invited AgriProve’s Managing Director Matthew Warnken to attend COP26 in Glasgow to showcase the soil carbon climate solutions that AgriProve have been commercialising since its creation in 2018. AgriProve is a special purpose vehicle spun out of Corporate Carbon to meet growing demand within soil carbon markets. The growth of soil carbon climate solutions is illustrated by AgriProve registering 135 projects under the Clean Energy Regulator and another 80 awaiting regulatory approval. This has positioned AgriProve as a world leader in soil carbon projects.
AgriProve helps farmers access and maximise new income streams available via soil carbon credits to improve farm profitability. Under their proven approach, AgriProve takes on regulatory risk and administrative requirements of soil projects. Resources and expertise provided to farmers also assists building soil carbon, while new technology and data streams are coming online to improve farm and project results. With a partnership model and no upfront charges, AgriProve is only paid once the project creates credits.
COP26 in Glasgow will provide a unique opportunity to highlight the potential of soil carbon as a scalable climate technology. A key component will be discussions with other business leaders to continue developing climate solutions. In addition to discussions around future funding models with investors to accelerate momentum within the carbon industry. This will in turn will drive progress towards a safe climate.
Australia is a leader in many climate technologies, especially in nature-based solutions. The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) is the Australian Government's mechanism for incentivising carbon abatement in the form of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). The ERF reached major milestones of 1000 projects in August and 100 millionth ACCU issued in September 2021. “It is critical to provide the correct funding model for projects as it will provide the launchpad to reaching one billion ACCUs by 2030”, said Matthew. “AgriProve intends to continue its leadership in climate innovation – with a goal of reaching 10 million ha of soil carbon projects by 2030 in Australia and delivering 25 million ACCUs annually.”
The COP26 event is also timely with the Australian Government announcing their plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and soil carbon sequestration included as a key low emissions technology. The new 2021 soil carbon methodology is also anticipated over the next few weeks. The development of this method is testament to the hard work of Soil Carbon Industry Group, Carbon Market Institute Soil Carbon Taskforce and the AgriProve support team (amongst many others) to engage with the team at the Clean Energy Regulator. The 2021 Soil Carbon Methodology will unlock greater capacity for larger areas to participate in soil carbon projects and reduce measurement costs by up to 90% for existing and future soil carbon projects.
Matthew will also be the head delegate for the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSD) at COP26. This BCSD Australia program helps business understand the significance of the UN-led negotiations - which are not just climate talks but include the trade and finance implications, gender and youth issues, and carbon technical and legal aspects, just to name a few.
To hear updates from Matthew and other featured attendees of COP26 in Glasgow you can tune into “G’day Glasgow” for free via this link.