Carbon Credits from a Drip?

 November 26, 2022

Carbon Credits from a Drip?

An Israeli company unveiled a new way for farmers to earn extra - carbon credits generated by its drip irrigation method. The oceans are also producing carbon credits in gigatonnes scale with seaweed farming. 

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s wealth fund is casting its stake at carbon credits by investing in a trading exchange. Plus the COP27 highlights and more stories in this week’s news.

So, let’s get started.

Carbon Credits From Drip Irrigation

Agriculture has been the target of carbon mitigation actions around the globe. In Israel, a precision agriculture firm Netafim revealed its pioneering drip irrigation technology 

Drip irrigation is one the most efficient water and nutrient delivery systems for growing crops by directly targeting each plant’s root zone. 

Netafim said the technique can save 70% of the water used in producing rice. Plus, it uses 36% less energy and 30% less fertilizer while cutting methane emissions to almost zero and arsenic uptake by 90%.

The catch? The system is costly for poor farmers and may not be an option where water is abundant and cheap.

But that could change with the extra income brought by Netafim’s drip irrigation method - carbon credits for farmers.

What did COP27 Unlock?

Though there were no big decisions due to land at the COP27 climate summit, there were a few highlights worth noticing. 

The COP27 conference unlocks several breakthroughs. The biggest one came in support for the climate victims via a hard-fought deal to set up the “loss and damage” fund - a payment from developed countries to poorer ones suffering from climate disasters. Another breakthrough is the US’ revelation of a new voluntary carbon trading market scheme.

A lot also happened on the COP27 sidelines, and some old-time favorites and late-comers were on the table.

But some decisions were put off like the framework for international trading of carbon credits. Will this be decided upon at COP28 next year? 

A Billion Carbon Credits from Seaweeds

Time and again, seaweeds have proven their significant role in tackling climate change. 

In particular, a UK carbon removal company Seafields plans to build a sargassum farm the size of Portugal off West Africa.

Seafields will grow, harvest, bail, and sink sargassum in the South Atlantic ocean to remove 1 gigatonne of carbon each year.  

The 1 billion carbon removal credits produced by the project will be tokenized in partnership with JustCarbon.

The firm’s blockchain-powered system will facilitate the direct sale of the credits to a global market, enabling individuals and organizations to offset the footprint they can’t control.

Abu Dhabi’s 20% Bet at Carbon Credits

Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala invested in AirCarbon Exchange (ACX), which is establishing a carbon credits trading exchange and trading house in the Emirate.

Mubadala will acquire at least a 20% stake in ACX. This investment is part of UAE’s net zero strategies and is also a preparation for hosting the next climate change summit.

With this initiative, Abu Dhabi aims to attract money from global capital markets through carbon credits as investors are betting more on ESG ventures. This leaves more doors open in the global carbon market. 

Carbon Fact of the Week

The Carbon cost of an average household's Thanksgiving dinner produces approximately 103 lbs of CO2.

Each year Americans consume; 200 million pounds of meat, 150 million pounds of side dishes, and 14 million pounds of bread, which produce nearly 500,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: https://carboncredits.com/